Aziluth
by rukator
Summary: The Tamers decide to head for the City of Gold in order to meet an old friend. However, their journey might become more difficult than they thought. ActionAdventure Longfic featuring Rukato and LeeJuri (Jenrya x Juri)
1. Ueberlieferung

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. TOEI Animations, Saban, Bandai Entertainment, FoxKids and others do.

Genre: Action/Adventure, Romance

Rating: G for now, but all in all I'd say PG-13, to be on the safe side

Couples: Rukato, Jenrya x Juri (to which from now on I will refer as LeeJuri)

Warnings: None, except possible spoiler warnings for The Runaway Digimon Express

Setting of chapter 1: The Makino residence. The day of the events from The Runaway Digimon Express. Ruki's birthday party.

Author's Note: This is my very first Long-fic in English, Aziluth. For reasons described on my profile page, I can't guarantee fast and uninterrupted updates, but I still hope you'll like it anyway. I'll mostly use Japanese names (as usual), and, not quite as usual, German chapter titles. Yes, the fic is in English, but guessing about the meaning of the titles might keep you slightly busy while I write the next chapter. The fic starts with the final scene of TRDE (The Runaway Digimon Express.)

As I mentioned on my profile page already, as much as I love the English language, I'm still Austrian, which makes my native language- surprise, surprise- German. Thus, feedback is very important to me, and I would highly appreciate R/R.

Now let's get started, people.

**AZILUTH**

1.) Ueberlieferung

Zutto zutto issho ni iru to

Ano yuuhi ni yakusoku shita kara

Kujikesou demo Kirei na orenji o dakishime

"Kitto kitto daijoubu da yo"

Ano yuuhi ga oshiete kureta no

Shinjite ireba

Sono kimochi wa Kanarazu todokutte

Zutto zutto issho ni iru to

Ano yuuhi ni yakusoku shita kara

Tooku ni itemo Onaji orenji o kanjite

"Kitto kitto daijoubu da yo"

Ano yuuhi wa tsunagatteru kara

Mou nakanai yo

Futari no ai Kokoro o terashiteru

Futari no ai Kokoro o terashiteru

Makino Ruki sat on the porch adjacent to the floor leading to her room, her eyes glued to the red, shiny brightness of the afterglow. She wasn't thinking about love, or hate, or passion. She wasn't thinking about her mother, her father or her friends either. She was just watching the sunset, a spectacle of nature which bore both beauty and a new hope, the hope of a new time, of a new day.

After a few minutes- or was it years? Ruki had lost her sense of time for the moment- the girl got up again and slowly made her way back towards the living room and the party crowd. While she didn't think too highly of birthdays, which to her were just ordinary days, she wasn't supposed to just sit there and let Hirokazu and Ryo spoil it all. But the few minutes of loneliness had made her cool down, and as much as she hated to admit it, watching the sun or the moon always had something comforting.

'And we can't forget that my absence earned mother some on-stage time too', Ruki thought with a slight smirk, as the last few tunes of Rumiko's performance of "My Tomorrow" reached her ears. Her face expression changed back to neutral as she re-entered the living room and sat down next to Takato and Guilmon. The latter was desperately sniffing the table in a vain attempt to find some last traces of food, but Impmon and Terriermon had done an excellent job with eating the table empty already. While Ruki's arrival was thus unnoticed by the red dinosaur, Takato certainly was greeting her- by blushing the deepest crimson of his life. Nobody had spoken a word, but Ruki wasn't stupid- it was more than obvious that Hirokazu had known about Ruki's song through Takato, and the brown-haired boy couldn't do anything but mutter a barely audible "I'm sorry..."

Ruki glanced at him, becoming aware of his blushing, and felt her gaze soften considerably. She wasn't really mad at anyone, least of all at Takato.

"It's alright gogglehead, don't lose your head over it." And with an astonishingly broad grin, she added, "Believe me, if I were mad at you, I'd make sure you'd know."

Takato looked at her in amazement, then grinned back. "I sure would. You know, we should sing a duet some time."

Ruki literally stabbed the goggle boy with a death glare. "Don't go too far." She pursed her lips and tried hard to look angry, but the look of Takato how he became smaller and smaller on his pillow and lowered his head like a frightened dog was too amusing. She just had to chuckle at that view.

Takato dared to look at her again, and was rewarded with a laughing Ruki, probably the most beautiful picture in the world. "It's nice to hear you laugh again..." he stammered.

"I was just about to say that," Rumiko responded with a bright, sugar-sweet smile, and, as she became aware of the blank table, quickly added: "Oh, should I bring some more snacks?"

All party attendants cheered at her, loudest of all Guilmon.

* * *

Later in the evening, the karaoke had finished, and the temper was cooling down, but the party was still going on. Juri had, despite Rumiko's and Seiko's protests, started to wash the dishes, and Jenrya and his sister had offered to help her with it. Kenta was the not-so-silent spectator of Ryo and Hirokazu playing battle after battle with their Digimon cards, and witnessed in awe as the visor boy actually won a few battles every now and then. Hirokazu was almost bursting with pride- he had been practising a lot lately, and now he had won three games against the Legendary Tamer, so it wasn't much of a disgrace that he had lost the other twenty-seven. Ruki's attention was needed for a totally different kind of contest: Takato, Guilmon and Impmon were literally throwing themselves at the periodically arriving helpings of new snacks, and the red-haired girl watched their lack of table manners in amusement, trying to judge who was eating the most. However, she soon lost count as Impmon stuffed two enormous pieces of cake in his mouth, rolled his eyes, coughed, choked, rolled around on the table in agony- and then cleared his throat to finish his cake at hyper speed. 

With a slight smile, Ruki got up and made her way towards the kitchen to help Juri with the dishes.

"Mhwuki?" Takato asked, his mouth full of cake. "Mwhere-?" He was interrupted by a sudden ignition in front of him. Impmon had hurled a fireball at the boy, since he had taken away the last piece of cake which in Impmon's opinion was rightfully his. Takato dodged the attack with relative ease, so that it hit Guilmon, but the dino digimon didn't really notice it. He was too busy staring at the piece of pastry in Takato's hands, his eyes strongly resembling those of a depressed Saint Bernard dog. Takato couldn't resist and handed the cake over to his partner, who immediately swallowed it, as Ruki finally answered the boy's question.

"Kitchen, goggles. I need to tell Juri that there's no need to wash the dishes, as you guys will probably eat them as well anyway."

Takato's ears became redder than Guilmon's, and with an apologetic look he started to collect the empty plates and carried them towards the kitchen. Ryo and Guilmon followed, carrying some glasses and cutlery.

Inside, Juri was busy cleaning plates, while Jen dried them with a towel and Ruki put them back into the shelves. Juri's gaze was lost in the foam of the washing-up liquid, then wandered to the plate she was about to stuff into the kitchen sink. It showed a Zodiac sign, with dates and character traits: Pride, Dignity, Loyalty, Honesty. The typical Leo.

Juri's hands trembled, as she tightened her grip, causing her knuckles to turn red, then white. The girl's eyes went black, testifying suppressed memories of pain and loneliness. Jenrya, who was standing next to her, looked at her worriedly and let out a deep sigh. He got closer to her and, out of the blue, wrapped his arms around her.

Juri showed him a short, sad smile. "Thank you, Lee-kun. That happens from time to time... I can't control it."

Jen smiled back at the brown-haired girl. "I don't know where Leomon is now, Juri, but I'm sure he's proud of you and your lion heart."

Ryo, who happened to overhear the conversation, nodded in agreement. "He sure is. He's probably standing on the castellated stronghold of the Urbs Auri and waiting for the day you two see each other again."

"Urbs Auri?" Ruki inquired. "City of Gold?" Takato, Juri and Jen turned towards Ryo as well, a quizzical look in their eyes.

"Yeah, you know... never mind." Ryo stuttered. Normally, the look of Ryo feeling so obviously uneasy would have been balm to Ruki's eyes, but right now, her curiosity got the better of her.

"Of course we mind, Mr. smart aleck. Spill it already."

Ryo glanced at the crowd nervously. "It's just a stupid legend, really..."

"So?" Ruki shot back. "You're just a stupid Legendary Tamer too, and we still like you." She paused, grinning. "Well, most of us. Now bring it on."

"Alright," Ryo finally gave in. "There is an old saying in the Digital World that Urbs Auri, the Golden City, is the place where the data patterns- or souls, if that's what you want to call it- of the virtuous Digimon go after their death, waiting for their rebirth."

Silence. Everybody was staring at Ryo. Finally, Juri spoke up, almost whispering, "That's a nice legend... I like it."

"So, when should we depart for the City of Gold? I'd say tomorrow morning." Takato said. All glances went from Ryo to the gogglehead now, but the boy was totally serious. "Listen guys, this might just be a legend, but we thought that Digimon were just a game before as well, right? So what if... uh... Urbs Auri does exist? Shouldn't we try and find it? Shouldn't we try and rescue Leomon, or at least visit him? He died for us, I think we owe him one, big time. Him and Juri."

"Nobody has ever seen it, Takato," Ryo responded after a few seconds of uneasy silence. "I really shouldn't have told you..."

"But you did, so live with it," Jenrya retorted. "As for me, I'm going along with Takato. If there is the slightest chance to make Juri happy again, I'm willing to try." A slight blush crept on his cheeks, as he realized what he had just said. "You know, I mean..."

"Count me in as well!" Ruki interrupted him. "You didn't think I'd leave all the fun to the two of you, right?"

Guilmon blinked. Once. Twice. Thrice. Then, realization hit him. "We're going back to the Digital World? Yay!"

Takato's face went pale, and he gesticulated wildly, trying to keep his partner quiet, but it was too late. As if on cue, Rumiko Makino and Seiko Hata appeared at the kitchen entrance, followed by Hirokazu and Kenta, who both had been attracted by the noise.

"You are going WHERE?" Rumiko shouted. "To the Digital World? Again?"

Seiko Hata just looked over her granddaughter.

"It's dangerous there. Of course I feel sorry for you, Juri, but I can't allow my daughter to go there again. You don't know what's waiting for you there!"

Seiko Hata just looked over her granddaughter.

"And what about the others? Do your parents even guess what you're up to? I'm sure they wouldn't be too happy either."

Seiko Hata just looked over her granddaughter. Finally, she spoke up. "You know, I'm very sure that neither threats nor pleas could change Ruki's determination, and the same goes for all the others. They have shown us wise adults more than once that they can take care of themselves, and as for their stubbornness when they have decided on something- well, I guess you should know about that yourself, Rumiko, dear. I think they should be allowed to go, as it is so important not to lose the people that you love out of your sight. Isn't it?"

Rumiko was silent. She understood her mother only too well, and she knew it was useless to object. After all, now that D-Reaper was gone, the Digital World might not be that dangerous anymore, right?

"Alright," Rumiko sighed. "Mother will talk to your parents." Seiko shot her a glare. "I mean we'll talk to your parents. But please promise not to leave before we told them." An eightfold nod followed. Jenrya noticed that his sister joined in as well, but decided it wasn't wise to tell her that she wouldn't come with them right here and now.

"Good." Rumiko was visibly relieved. "I hope you'll be safe..." She averted her gaze to look at her daughter, then smiled shyly. "No... I know you'll be safe." Grateful, almost sheepishly, Ruki returned her mother's smile.

* * *

Excitedly, Takato twisted and punched the bread dough. Another adventure with his friends, the possibility to make Juri happy again, and of course the outlook on seeing the fascinating City of Gold, a part of the Digital World not even Ryo and CyberDramon had ever explored, made him literally spray with enthusiasm and pleasant anticipation. 

It had been surprisingly easy for Takato to persuade his father to let him go. Takehiro was extraordinarily proud of his son, and was rather sure that he could defend himself and his friends, now that the most dangerous threat in the Digital World, the D-Reaper, was gone. He didn't know Dukemon CM's name or attributes, but he had witnessed his power. Takato's mother, however, wasn't exactly joyous over her son's plan, and was talking to her husband about the issue, as Takato was busy with baking in the next room.

Mie Matsuda sat on a chair. Every now and then, a tear trickled down her cheek. Her husband had her hands in his and spoke softly.

"I know you don't want him to go, dear... But we can't lock him up. It's not really dangerous anymore, and Takato can take care of himself. Hey, basically it's like a holiday camp, only much cheaper."

Against her intention, Mie had to laugh. "You're a fool, you know that... That must be Takato's patrimony... But you're right, I guess, we can't lock him up, and if he really has to go there, it's better when he knows he has our blessing."

Arm in arm, Takato's parents entered the adjoining room and wordlessly pulled their son into a tight hug. Flour was dispersed all over the room in the process, but nobody seemed to care.

"Promise you'll be alright, Takato... Please..." Mie muttered. Takato gently broke free from her hug and looked at her, his own eyes shimmering with wet now just like hers.

"I promise, mum... I promise..."

* * *

to be continued...

A/N: Not the best of beginnings, but I did my best, which is not at all easy when writing in a foreign language. I hope it's acceptable. Until chapter 2, thanks to my faithful readers and special thanks to all who review. Keep your fingers crossed for me to make some progress with chapter two soon, and stay tuned.


	2. Aufbruch

A/N: Here's chapter two now, which took me quite some time. Writer's Block is my nemesis...

Japanese names here as well, with the exception of Suzie- in my humble opinion, neither Shiuchon nor Shaochung sounds any good. In case anybody doesn't know, Rinchei is Jenrya's older brother.

To answer Tsuki Tamer's question: The title of the fic, Aziluth, refers to the City of Gold where the Tamers are heading. In reality, Aziluth is one of the four worlds composing the cosmos, according to the Jewish Kabbalah, namely the world of archetypes, from which all manifestations of forms come.

Now on with chapter two. R/R, as usual, highly appreciated.

2.) Aufbruch

Carefully, Akiyama Ryo sneaked down the hallway leading from his bedroom to the kitchen- or, to be precise, from Rinchei Lee's bedroom to the kitchen. Ryo had asked Jenrya whether he could sleep over, since he didn't want to drop in at his parents' house only to leave for the Digital World again the very next day. Janyuu and Mayumi had accepted, for their eldest son was spending the weekend with a friend, anyway.

However, the Legendary Tamer couldn't get any sleep, so he decided to have a glass of milk and try to figure out _the_ perfect Digimon card deck. Without a sound, he opened the kitchen door and peeked inside. To his surprise, the room was fully illuminated, and it was not deserted.

"Can't sleep?" Jenrya was sitting at the kitchen table, holding a cup of tea. He had his back turned towards the other boy, but he had already realized it had to be Ryo. He knew his family enough to know that neither his parents nor his siblings would bother to _sneak_ into the kitchen when suffering from insomnia.

"Right," Ryo answered.

"Me neither. Have some tea," Jen invited. Ryo nodded in agreement, took a seat opposite to his fellow Tamer and poured himself a cup of Earl Grey, steaming hot, just as he liked it.

"I don't even know where to sleep anyway," Jenrya spoke between two sips. "Suzie fell asleep on my bed, and I'd rather take on D-Reaper again than wake her up, now that she finally accepted she can't go with us."

Ryo showed a brief smile. He didn't have any siblings, but he could imagine the difficulties that might arise when you have a sister like the infamous Suzie Lee.

"And what about the others?" Ryo asked, considering whether he should grant himself a spoonful of sugar for his tea, and then deciding in favour of it.

"Takato called about an hour ago, his parents gave their permission. I didn't hear from Hirokazu, Kenta or Juri so far." Jenrya took another sip, his eyes glistening with amusement as Ryo was obviously too lost in his own thoughts to notice that he had almost emptied the sugar bowl by now.

"I'm sure Hirokazu and Kenta are coming, with their parents' blessing or without it. As for Juri, well, it could get dangerous..." He paused, tasted his tea and grimaced with disgust.

"True. I don't want her to get hurt either. But then again, all this is about her and Leomon, so there's no way she'll accept to just stay here and wait for us to return. Until she's reunited with her partner, we'll protect her from any possible dangers, anyway."

"Amen, buddy," Ryo coughed, helping himself to a glass of tap water to get rid of the awful aftertaste.

Jenrya just smiled.

* * *

"Alright guys, it's this... I have to go away. No, not forever, just for a little while, to help Juri get her partner back. That's really important to me- not as important as you guys are, but, you know... Ah, hell!" 

Frustrated, Impmon looked at his mirror image one more time, then hopped off the washbasin.

"I should have asked the Foxy about how to say that. She has a way with words." Folding his arms behind his neck, he turned towards the bathroom door- only to see his Tamers stand there, their eyes dangerously shimmering with tears.

"Uh... Ai, Mako... How long have you been standing there?"

"You're going to the Digital World again, isn't it?" Ai asked, which pretty much answered his question.

"Yeah, I guess," Impmon replied uneasily. "You know, we're going to look for Juri's digimon partner... She lost him, and it's my fault."

"But that sounds dangerous." A single tear trickled down Ai's face, while her brother still hadn't said a word.

"It isn't, really," Impmon tried to calm her down. "Now that the evil D-Reaper is gone, it's just like a walk in the park." The small, purple digimon even managed to show a brief smile.

"We'll come with you then!" Mako finally spoke up.

Impmon sighed. He had expected something like this to happen. Slowly, he approached his partners, and carefully pulled them into a hug.

"I love you, both of you, but I can't allow this. It's not dangerous for me to go there, but you're still too young. Besides, this is solely my quest. It's my fault that Leomon's gone, and it's my duty to bring him back." By now, his voice was muffled by tears as well, but he didn't care. His Tamers were worried about him, and vice versa- he didn't feel embarrassed one bit. Their friendship was his most precious possession, after all.

"I need you to let me do this, guys. I promise I'll return home safely, and I promise I'll take you to the Digital World when this is over, to show you all the beautiful things there."

"Really?" Mako's voice was trembling with premature anticipation now.

"Yep," his partner replied. "But first, I need to find Leomon."

'He's an even better protector than I am, guys,' Impmon thought. 'He gave his life away without hesitation...'

"Okay," Ai answered. "We're sure you can make it, Impmon."

"Right!" her brother confirmed. "Nobody can stop you as long as you have my favourite gun!"

Impmon laughed heartily at his partner's comment. "You said it, Mako. I'll find Leomon, and nobody can stop me, as long as I have such great partners, and Tamers, and friends..."

* * *

Sun hadn't risen yet, as our favourite red-head was already strolling towards Shinjuku Park. She hadn't been able to get much sleep that night- the possibility to retrieve Leomon was too delighting. Juri was her friend, after all, and none of the Tamers had forgotten about how the cruel D-Reaper had used her as some sort of personal power plant. This wasn't supposed to happen ever again. 

It was still rather dark, especially in the park, where street lighting was scarce. Nevertheless, the birds were already singing and chirping, and even though Ruki was anything but sentimental, the notion of a new day, of a new awakening (especially considering the purpose of their journey) was almost tangible. She wasn't sure where Renamon was at the moment, but of course, that didn't matter. As sure as fate, the yellow _kitsune_ wouldn't let her out of her sight. Ruki exhaled audibly. She really wished for Juri to get Leomon back, so he could protect her again just like Renamon did.

A distant laughter attracted the girl's attention. As she came closer, she identified the source as Takato, who had been tackled to the ground by a certain red dinosaur once again. Ruki sneered at the odd couple as she sat down onto the soft grass right next to them.

"You know, you could really grow up anytime soon. Both of you."

Startled, Takato and Guilmon eyed the newcomer, but hurried to get up and take a seat next to Ruki.

"Why are you here anyway? I mean when did you stop being chronically late for everything?" the girl inquired.

"Actually, this here is the reason I'm always late for school," Takato answered. "My parents allowed Guilmon to live with us ages ago already, but he insists on staying in Shinjuku Park. Well, I can't resent it, it's something like his home after all, but it forces me to get up earlier and bring him some bread every day." Takato punched his partner's shoulder lightly, who responded with a playful growl.

"And what's your explanation?" Now it was Takato's turn to sneer, which caused Ruki to give the gogglehead a death glare.

"I couldn't sleep. Nothing more than that."

Takato nodded understandingly. "It's an important journey we're about to make. Not only for Juri. Do you think she'll come as well?"

Ruki snorted. "Are you kidding? Even if the Dark Masters along with MaloMiyotismon would block the gate, she'd just slice right through them. Of course she's coming too."

Takato snickered a bit. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Nothing could possibly happen to her anyway, we have the Legendary Tamer, and the Digimon Queen, and... well, uh, the rest."

"Come on gogglehead, you're not that bad either. You've improved a lot."

Takato stared at the red-haired girl in disbelief. "Why, thank you. That means a lot coming from you."

Ruki showed a grin. "Don't even bother to be smug about it. I'll deny everything."

"That's not necessary, we overheard it anyway," Jenrya's voice came from behind some bushed, soon followed by Jenrya himself, accompanied by Terriermon.

"And before you even ask, my furry little friend here insisted on one of his usual eavesdropping sessions."

The glare Ruki shot him in consequence was priceless. Deadly, but priceless.

"Takato and Ruki, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-"Terriermon was interrupted by a huge shadow engulfing him, and rolled out of the way just in time before CyberDramon's mighty foot stomped the ground where he had just been. Ryo, who followed suit, gave a slight chuckle.

"Hey!" the small Rookie complained. "Watch it, big dude!"

"Glad you're here, guys," Takato said, just to change the subject.

"Yeah, it wasn't such a big deal," Jenrya replied. "Dad has changed a lot since our digimon have returned."

Ryo winced a little at the mention of "dad", but decided it was no use pondering over it anymore. He had made his decision.

"Same here," Juri added, joining the Tamers. She was smiling brightly, this time without the usual smack of sadness. "My parents understood me surprisingly well this time, so I guess we're ready to go."

"What about Hirokazu and Kenta?" Takato asked.

"Coming," a deep voice from high above echoed. An instant later, Beelzemon landed next to the group, carrying Hirokazu under his right and Kenta under his left arm, while the latter had MarineAngemon in his arms.

"Sorry we're late. Guardromon is on his way- I just thought we should fly ahead so you guys don't leave without us."

Really did it only take Guardromon a few more minutes to arrive, but he wasn't alone. Hypnos' chief network administrator Mitsuo Yamaki was with him, in his usual black suit, but without the sunglasses this time.

"I met Guardromon at the park entrance while I was with Reik- I mean while I was preparing for work, and he told me about your plans. I just thought you could use these."

With that, he handed each Tamer a small brown packet, about the size of an audio cassette.

"Please don't use them unless it's absolutely necessary in battle," Yamaki continued. "It's a new set of Digimon cards, which I was just about to take to Dolphin and Babel for final tests. They helped Hypnos with the development. See it as a kind of gift from the government- by now, everybody realised that you are the only ones who can deal with digimon, so it's not totally altruistic, but I don't think you'll mind. However, as I said, they have not been tested yet, but since I can't stop you from departing right now, you might need them anyway."

"Thank you, Mr. Yamaki," Takato cheered. Finally, they all made their way towards the portal leading to the Digital World, including Renamon who had joined them as Yamaki had been speaking. Takato took a deep breath as he reached it, and shouted, "For Leomon!"

"For Leomon!" his friends replied, and they all stepped through the gate, into their next adventure.

* * *

to be continued... 

A/N: You know the deal, thanks to my faithful readers, and special thanks to all reviewers. Until chapter 3, hopefully very soon.


	3. Wanderer

To kayono: As for your review of chapter 1 (which appeared only after I already uploaded chapter 2, so it's answered now), yes, this is a Rukato- what else. But no, I can't just write like Takato would never give a damn about Juri, because- as much as I hate it- the canon of Tamers dictates that he does care for her a lot. However, according to me and all my fellow fighters for Rukato, he does not love her- he loves Ruki, and believe me, I would never, never write a Jurato, so don't worry. And by the way- I agree with you on the feeling that anything before noon is too early ;)

To the anonymous reviewer named "Someperson": Thanks for your praise. I have to admit that most of my one-shots are rather fast-paced when it comes to the romance- fluff and romance are my soft spots, so to speak- which is one of the reasons why I wanted to do a long-fic this time. I'll try my best.

A/N: Here's chapter three now.

3.) Wanderer

_Taking a step to the world unbound  
Spinning my fantasies all around  
Freed from the gravital leash  
I swear the heaven's in my reach_

_Nightwish__, "Know Why the Nightingale Sings"_

Once again, the Tamers were floating through the bizarre transition zone between the worlds of humans and digimon. Myriads of small lights were surrounding them, like carbuncle stones, and the whole scenario seemed to exist beyond Euclidean geometry.

"I'd suggest we'll go up this time," Kenta stated.

"You bet," Takato answered, raising his right fist high into the non-existent sky.

Without exception, his friends stared at him.

"You know, gogglehead, every time I think you couldn't possibly become a greater weirdo…"

She didn't continue, but the damage was done- Takato's cheeks turned crimson with embarrassment. He truly hated to blush in front of the resolute red-head, because it was a confirmation of her talent to sneer at everything he did or said.

However, he was 'saved' from the awkward moment as, suddenly, an invisible force hurled him and his fellow Tamers into the direction they thought was upwards at an insane speed. As if weightless, they were rushing through the scenario, until finally, a brilliant light engulfed them and effectively blinded them for the moment.

After the children and digimon had regained their eyesight, they found that they had reached their destination- the Digital World. They were lying on hard, semi-arid ground, which was covered with lichens. Every now and then, you could see a few single trees in the distance, which- just like the Tamers- were mercilessly heated up by the sun high above their crowns.

"Looks like some kind of steppe," Ryo analyzed as he came to his feet again. "I suppose we're in the second plain of the Digital World."

"No kidding, Aristotle," Ruki scoffed. "And would you now please condescend to tell us where to go?"

Ryo just shrugged. He was at a loss with that question just as all the others were. Well, most others.

"East," Renamon replied promptly, which earned her thirteen bewildered glances. Hirokazu was the first to speak up.

"Did I ever tell you how weird you are?"

"Well," Renamon smirked, "I have to admit the smoke helped a bit with the decision."

The Tamers and other digimon averted their eyes to where Renamon was pointing and became aware of a thin, but clearly visible column of smoke behind an unusually large group of small trees, about half a mile away.

"A fireplace?" Jenrya thought aloud.

"Possibly," Renamon answered. "I just thought it's the best idea to ask someone the way when you're lost in the middle of nowhere."

"Very clever, foxy," Impmon, now having de-digivolved, interfered. "Let's get going then." With that said, he tramped towards the smoke already, and the rest of the group followed suit.

"Do you think whoever is at the fire knows the way to the City of Gold?" Juri inquired, her voice slightly trembling with newly found hope.

"Maybe," Ruki replied. "But I'm sure we will find that weird city, and Leomon." She showed a confident smile, which Juri returned with gratefulness. Takato couldn't help but admire the red-haired girl at that moment. For some reason, he found Ruki's smile absolutely beautiful- perhaps because it was such a rarity.

"I just hope it's not too far." Guilmon's almost whiny voice interrupted his Tamer's thoughts. "I hate walking for miles and miles."

Takato looked at his partner with sympathy. "You're truly one-of-a-kind, Guilmon."

The red dinosaur tilted his head, watching the goggle boy with a mixture of confusion and suspicion. "Of course I am. Or did you draw me twice?"

"No, don't worry boy," Takato laughed. "You're the only one for me."

Guilmon's face lightened in response. "Yay!" he cheered.

* * *

It took the small fellowship only a few minutes to reach the group of acacia-like trees, which approximately formed a circle surrounding the campfire. It was still burning, but deserted- at first sight at least. 

"We're not alone," Renamon hissed, tensing. But her warning came too late. At the same time, an apparitional red and yellow shadow jumped down a tree, in force and speed strongly resembling a lightning bolt, and came to a stop right next to the fire. A split second later, the creature had unsheathed his razor-sharp sword, pointing it at the closest of the digimon- Renamon.

"Who are you?" he demanded sharply.

"Musyamon?" Takato asked unbelievingly. "Again?"

"What do you mean, again? But yes, my name is Musyamon." He had a little trouble speaking, as he was busy with performing a backflip over CyberDramon, who had been sneaking behind the Wizard digimon in order to ambush him. The Ultimate whirled around just in time to see Musyamon lift his weapon, and raised his claws to parry the inevitable slash- which, in fact, never came. Instead, the rapid Champion level digimon sidestepped and- literally- swept his opponent off his feet, while almost simultaneously placing his blade against the Android digimon's throat.

"Since obviously you know who I am," he spoke calmly, "would you mind telling me who you are?"

"Don't hurt CyberDramon," Juri pleaded. "We're not your enemies."

Musyamon's lips contorted to a smirk. "Who is my foe and who is not is still up to me, young lady."

He didn't say "friend or foe", but "foe or not foe", Takato noticed- obviously, Musyamon didn't have too many friends. Anyway, they owed him an explanation.

"We didn't mean to bother you," the goggle boy finally answered. "We're just here to look for a friend of us, who's said to be in the… uh… City of Gold."

For the blink of an eye, Musyamon's neutral face showed an expression of utter astonishment. However, he quickly regained his countenance and eventually sheathed his sword.

"City of Gold? You mean you are heading for Aziluth the Aureate?"

Takato shrugged. "If that's what it is called."

Musyamon examined the group carefully. "And you think you can just walk in, fetch your friend and leave again? I know, humans are said to be rather presumptuous, but this is just ridiculous. Aziluth is surrounded by a hostile strip of wasteland, which no living being has ever passed."

"We'll be the first ones then!" Impmon piped up.

"Right," Jenrya agreed. "We'll deal with all those problems when we get there. So will you help us or not?"

Takato watched his friend in awe. It was unusual for Lee-kun to flare up like that, unless it was for a very good reason.

Musyamon pondered the boy's question for a while before he answered. "Just keep going north. The City of Gold is the geometrical centre of the Digital World, and since this is the Southern Quadrant, be sure to always head northbound. Since Aziluth exists within a warped spatiotemporal continuum, it is reachable from any given quadrant or plain- in theory, that is."

"Just great," Ruki muttered inaudibly. "The first digimon we bump into is a freaky mixture of Rambo and Isaac Newton."

"I don't know who Rambo or Isaac Newton are," Musyamon answered with a sly smile, "but I guess this is the right time to mention I have a rather accurate ear." Ruki just growled, and Takato had to muster up all his self-restraint to keep a straight face.

"Anyway," the Wizard digimon continued, "I can offer you my company until we reach the aforementioned border. I know this plain like the back of my hand."

All of the children gave an affirmative nod, except Ruki- but since she wasn't shaking her head either, the decision was unanimous.

"Alright," Musyamon spoke. "But for now, it would be a good idea if you all came a little closer to the fire. It's almost night time."

Obediently, Tamers and digimon alike took seats next to the campfire. Only CyberDramon finally stood up, spread his wings and took off into the sky.

"Don't worry," Ryo commented, "just let him go and find something to let off some steam. Being defeated by a Champion just caused him a slightly ruffled ego, that's all." The self-proclaimed Digimon King looked over Musyamon. "You are extraordinarily strong. You must have been fighting a lot in your life."

"True. But I try to avoid it whenever it's possible," Musyamon responded.

"Really? You don't look like you did that," Ryo stated.

Musyamon averted his eyes to look at Ryo, carefully examining him. "Now I recognise you. You should know best of all, Legendary Tamer, what happens when a strong digimon gets out of control." He gave a meaningful look into the direction where CyberDramon had vanished.

"I'm a strong Champion, that is true; stronger than I should be. But I don't digivolve, since I try to avoid fighting, and I don't download my opponents' data."

"You don't want to digivolve," Takato pondered, "because you're afraid you can't control yourself anymore then." The boy knew exactly what Musyamon was talking about- after all, the memory of Megidramon was always on his mind as well.

Musyamon nodded. "Precisely. I'm a Virus type, but I'm not evil. I just have my own perception of justice." He gave a slight smirk. "But as SkullSatamon, I fear I would commit deeds I really don't want to do. That's why I'm living a life as a wayfarer through the Digital World, always wandering, never resting."

Ryo tilted his head, lost in his thoughts. He knew how Musyamon felt- it was, basically, the same life he himself and CyberDramon were leading.

"It's almost nightfall," Renamon suddenly changed the subject. "We should get some sleep. I assume we still have a long way to go, and we can't continue our journey in the darkness anyway."

Her proposal found general approval, and everyone curled up to sleep- except Takato.

"I'll do the first watch," he announced, but Ryo just shook his head. "I don't think that's necessary. CyberDramon should still be around, and he rarely overlooks anything."

Takato had to admit that Ryo was right, but that didn't change the fact that, a few minutes later after everyone else was sound asleep, Takato was still staring at the campfire and at the shadowy silhouettes the light was casting on the faces of his sleeping friends.

Especially fascinating, in his opinion, was Ruki's. She had undone her hair-band before going to sleep, which now caused a few red strands to fall over her face. The beautiful picture radiated such a strong sensation of peace that it was almost contagious, and slowly, Takato was getting drowsy. Just like all the others, he hadn't been sleeping much last night, and his body was longing for regeneration. Suddenly, he heard a muted noise somewhere behind him. Concluding that it had to be CyberDramon, he finally allowed himself to relax a bit and started to drift off into a deep and blissful sleep.

* * *

_The air-stream atop Locomon's roof messed up Takato's hair even more, as the boy was lying flat on his stomach, desperately keeping hold of Ruki's hand. Despite the dangerous situation, the feeling of her skin caressing his own, along with his heart and his soul, triggered a strange and pleasant sensation deep inside of him. Abruptly, he didn't seem to feel her weight hanging onto his left arm anymore, just as if he had found a new source of power- of a power which was much greater than pain or fear._

_But all of a sudden, Takato's temples began to hurt. He felt his strength leaving him, and Ruki seemed to become heavier and heavier._

"Let go!"_ a voice somewhere inside his head screamed, deafening him for the moment. _"She is not worthy. She has always been offending you, taunting you, hurting you. Now it is time for payback!"__

_"I can't," Takato panted, struggling not to lose hold of Ruki. "She's… my friend…"_

"She is nobody's friend, and you know it,"_ the voice screamed in response. _"She doesn't even know the meaning of the word 'friendship'! So let her fall, and all your worries along with her. Let go, Takato! LET GO!"

_And Takato let go._

* * *

An instant later, the boy was wide awake, his heart beating at an insanely fast pace. As if chased by the Furies, he looked around the small camp. Everybody was still asleep, including Ruki. 

'Ruki…' Slowly, the gogglehead got to his feet and made a few steps towards the sleeping girl.

_'Let go!'_ The voice inside his head was back, and it was even more demanding now. Takato kneeled down and grabbed a fairly large rock, which was overgrown with green lichens. Without hesitation, he walked the last few meters towards Ruki and examined her carefully.

She was so beautiful when she was asleep…

Takato's fist closed around the rock, and he lifted it high into the air.

Surely, she'd be even more beautiful if she were asleep forever…

* * *

to be continued

A/N: This chapter is getting longer than I intended it to be, but my weakness for descriptive writing forces me to split it up now, leaving you with a little cliffhanger. I'll try to get chapter 4 out as soon as possible, though.


	4. Opfer

To Endermon: It's even simpler than that. But the Digital Hazard might play a minor role later on- I'll still have to see about that.

To TK2K: Umm, thanks a lot, but that's too much praise for me. Glad you like it that much, though.

A/N: Finally, here is chapter four. It took me much longer than expected, mainly because of computer troubles, a little writer's block and university entrance formalities which cost tremendous amounts of time.

Gratia maxima to GtaJake, Myo-kun (Milleniumon) and especially Austin-kun (TK2K) for their valuable input and support- without them, this chapter would not have been possible.

Anyway, now on with the fic.

4.) Opfer

_‚Let go!'_ The voice's intensity grew to nearly immeasurable degrees, and Takato felt like his head was going to burst any moment. But simultaneously, he began to have second thoughts about what he was in the act of doing.

'Don't do it,' another voice intervened, in a much lower tone than the first one. It was just slightly more than a whisper, but it reached Takato nevertheless. You might call it the voice of reason, if you're a rationalist, or the subconscious, if you're a Freud aficionado, but the most accurate description in this situation would probably be "the voice of the heart."

'Don't do it, Takato.' The voice was somewhat louder now, and along with it, our favourite gogglehead was confronted with a huge amount of memories. Very pleasant memories.

He saw his dream again in front of his inner eye, his famous dream of Ruki and Renamon fighting Lynxmon, and how he had been admiring the then unknown girl. He was once again walking through that tunnel towards the new evil known as the D-Reaper, and once again saw Ruki blush at his comment about her new shirt. And finally, he was atop Locomon again, holding onto Ruki's hand tightly, determined to protect the girl from any harm with all his courage and strength.

Takato fell to his knees next to his sleeping friend, letting out a muted and almost relieved sigh. His eyes, which had been blank and totally unemotional since he had awoken, were now flickering with concern, and glistening with suppressed tears.

"No," Takato spoke, barely audible. Slowly, he averted his gaze and looked at his fist tightly clutching the stone.

"No!" he repeated, now in a much stronger voice, simultaneously grabbing Ruki's wrist with his free hand.

"Ruki is my friend," he continued speaking to himself. "I care for her. I need her. And I won't let go of her, did you hear me? I won't let go of her **EVER**!"

He had cried the last word out loud, effectively waking up his friends in the process, including, of course, Ruki, who alternately looked at him and the stone in his fist, her eyes reflecting a mixture of drowsiness, astonishment and anxiety.

Renamon was the first to analyze the situation, and appeared next to her Tamer in the blink of an eye. Her muscles tensed visibly, but she didn't move just yet. Her eyes were glued to Takato's right hand, but her instincts told her that Ruki wasn't in any immediate danger.

Musyamon, however, seemed to be of a different opinion.

"You!" he roared, as he sprang to his feet and dashed towards the goggle boy, drawing his sword in mid-run. Takato tilted his head to look at the Wizard digimon. His eyes were hazy now, and flickering with sorrow, as if something deep inside of him desperately fought against them turning blank again. An instant later, Musyamon had reached him, and sliced at him. The nightly peace was broken by the disturbing sound of a blade cutting through flesh and limbs, and Takato fell down, collapsing on top of Ruki, his hand still clasping her wrist tightly. He felt incredibly tired and worn out now, but still managed to shift his body a bit to look into the eyes of his red-haired friend, who still couldn't move due to her amazement.

"Ruki…" Takato whispered with his last bit of strength. "You're safe… That's good…" With that, his head slumped onto the girl's chest again. Normally, the boy would have been blushing for all he was worth by now, but both his body and mind were too numb to react appropriately.

'Her skin… It's so soft…' That was his last thought, before the rock finally fell out of his flagging hand, and the world around him went black.

* * *

"And you're absolutely sure it was a Parasimon?" Ruki inquired, for the fourth or fifth time already, her eyes still narrow with suspicion. She was speaking in a rather low voice, out of unusual respect for Hirokazu and Kenta, who were sound asleep already, while Ryo, Jenrya and Juri were at the other side of the camp, having an equally muted conversation. For obvious reasons, they all had decided to stay out of Ruki's reach for the time being- almost being killed by your best friend could surely be a damper for anyone's mood. The digimon were guarding the outer rims of the small camp, just in case their attacker would return. As for Ruki, she had not moved away more than a meter since Takato's fainting- which had been a solid hour ago already.

"Yes, I am sure," Musyamon answered the girl's question. "The Parasimon species has mastered the art of camouflage close to perfection, but roaming the Digital World for years and years sharpens your senses."

"Oh, really?" Ruki asked mockingly. "Why couldn't you protect Tak- gogglehead then? Maybe we're not worthy to deserve your protection, huh? Well, get lost then, 'cause we don't need you around here if you're causing nothing but trouble!"

Musyamon's eyes glistened with amusement at the young girl's irrational emotional outburst.

"It was not an ordinary Parasimon. Even I had trouble detecting it at first. And my sword slash, which should have been deadly even for a Mega, only cost it a couple of legs." He paused and glanced at his weapon which lay next to the still unconscious Takato, readily available, before he looked into the red-head's eyes again.

"You're worried about him," he stated matter-of-factly. "You care for him, don't you?"

Terriermon, who was watching the southern 'entrance' and 'accidentally' overheard the conversation, sighed weakly while simultaneously covering his auditory canals with his oversized ears. Musyamon might be the predestined Digital Survivor, just like Ryo, but he still had a few lessons to learn about certain choleric girl Tamers, that was for sure.

"What?!" Ruki roared promptly in response, not caring whether or not Hirokazu and Kenta could continue their beauty sleep anymore. "Since when does living as a digital tramp earn you a PhD? I should really take that silly butter knife of yours and shove it up your sorry-"

"Alright, alright," Musyamon intervened, waving his hands with a placatory gesture. "I'm deeply sorry." Ruki just snorted, and Musyamon didn't only keep a straight face, but was even diplomatic enough to generously ignore the faint blush that had formed on the girl's cheeks.

Terriermon couldn't help but give a small chuckle at the scenario, but apparently, Ruki didn't notice it- easy to tell, since the small Rookie level digimon was still alive five seconds later.

"Hey… What's that shouting all about?" Takato's weak voice sounded. In the blink of an eye, Juri, Jen, Ryo and Hirokazu and Kenta, who had awoken due to the noisiness, were surrounding the brown-haired boy. At the same time, Ruki whirled around to face him, and subconsciously inched closer towards the still dizzy Takato. Even though her face expression remained rather emotionless, she couldn't fully suppress the happiness and relief about his recovering glowing in her eyes, but none of the others- aside from Musyamon maybe- took any notice of it.

"About time you wake up, gogglehead," Ruki growled. But his physical and mental exhaustion notwithstanding, Takato could still notice the corners of her mouth twitching slightly, indicating something that could, with some imagination, almost resemble a smile.

"I'm so glad you're alright, Takato!" Juri exclaimed, pulling the boy into a deadly bear hug.

"Juri…" Takato coughed. "Can't… breathe…"

The puppet girl let go of him reluctantly, showing a cheerful smile and an apologetic look. For obscure reasons, the view of Juri embracing Takato caused a slight sting to Jenrya's heart, but he simply discarded it as a normal effect of puberty, and quickly pushed the topic away.

Ruki, however, answered Juri's enthusiasm with a soft laugh, which, somehow, sounded like Seraphim choirs to Takato.

"Yes," Ruki grinned. "I still need my favourite gogglehead alive. At least for now."

Hirokazu Shiota wouldn't have been Hirokazu Shiota if he didn't have a nimble-witted remark in store for a situation like that one, but luckily (for him), Musyamon spoke up the very second he opened his mouth.

"How are you feeling, Takato?"

"A little battered and worn out," the goggle boy replied as he slowly shifted his upper body to a sitting position. "Other than that, I'm fine, I guess." Automatically, he averted his gaze to look into Ruki's eyes, only to immediately stare to the ground again.

"I could not stop it… I tried to, but I only managed to slow the Parasimon down… It was like its thoughts were overwriting my own." He gulped before he continued, his voice considerably lower now. "I put all of you in danger, especially Ruki… I'm so sorry…"

"It's not your fault, Takato," Musyamon answered. "You were possessed. You should rather be proud of yourself- I have never seen a living being defy a Parasimon's control even for a few seconds only. You fought a battle against evil, and won."

"Yeah," Ruki agreed, hesitating not even half as long as everybody- including herself- would have expected.

"So, what do you think were Parasimon's intentions?" Jen inquired.

"Umm, buddy… Maybe you should discuss that later," Terriermon piped up. "I think something's com- ugh!" The small bunny/dog digimon panted with surprise, as he was hurled away into the bushes by a barely visible purple blur, which was moving at an insanely fast speed. Immediately, Jenrya grabbed the defenceless Juri by the hand and dragged her towards the spot where his partner had vanished, and thus into the relative safety of the thicket. Before any of the others, Tamers and digimon alike, could take any counter-measures, Musyamon was already dashing towards the unexpected enemy, his unsheathed sword refracting the red and orange light radiated by the campfire.

The attacker- Parasimon, of course- suddenly shot a red energy beam at the Wizard digimon, which pierced his right leg and exploded only a few inches away from the still immobile Takato. However, Musyamon didn't slow down significantly, and jumped at Parasimon, his sword upraised to finally end the threat. But the evil Mega level digimon obviously wasn't willing to surrender without a fight, and released his distance attack once more, this time hitting his opponent in the chest. Musyamon's blade found its target precisely at the second of the energy impact, but blinded and distracted by the sudden flash of red light directly in front of his eyes, the Champion involuntarily twisted his weapon in his hands, only hitting Parasimon with the blunt side of the sword. It was more than enough to effectively send the huge purple spider to dreamland, but its own attack caused considerable damage to the digital swordsman as well. Groaning, Musyamon slammed into the ground, as he was already beginning to dissipate into data.

Reluctantly, the rest of the fellowship, including Takato who was supported by Guilmon and Ruki, approached the severely injured digimon, not without keeping an eye on the still unconscious Parasimon. None of them had even had the time to react appropriately, with the exception of Renamon. But the yellow _kitsune_ knew when she was dispensable perfectly well; she would only have disrupted the super-strong Champion digimon.

Upon coming closer, they noticed an odd sign on Parasimon's back, which strongly resembled the letter "N". While this surely was strange, it was not their main problem right now.

"Stay down," Kenta addressed Musyamon. "MarineAngemon will-"

"No," Musyamon interrupted the spectacle wearer. "This isn't an ordinary wound, boy. Parasimon's energy beam is fragmenting my data. There's nothing your partner could do for me." He paused, and let out a deep sigh, which immediately sent him into a coughing fit. He wiped across his mouth, and cursed silently as he spotted traces of decomposed data on the back of his hand, which bore a strong resemblance to blood. With hazy eyes, he glanced at his defeated opponent lying on the ground only a couple of meters away.

"My only chance," he continued with a shaky voice, "would be downloading Parasimon's data. I'm not sure if it would work anyway, and, more disturbing, if it works, I could… digivolve…"

The Tamers exchanged worried looks, feeling totally helpless.

"But you can't die!" Juri cried in despair. "If it's the only way to save you from deletion, then…" She sobbed audibly before she continued, "Then you have to download it!"

Everyone was speechless to hear Juri, of all, saying something like that, but at the same time they all knew she was right. Musyamon had been willing to give his life in order to guard them, and it just wasn't fair that he should be moribund now. Tamers and digimon alike simply nodded in agreement, and Jenrya tried to comfort the still sobbing Juri by gently placing his hand on her shoulder. The girl thanked him with a tiny smile, before she addressed Musyamon again.

"Please, Musyamon... I can't allow losing yet another friend who only wanted to protect me… please…"

After another seemingly endless minute of pondering, the dying Champion digimon finally gave in.

"Alright. If it's your wish, I will try to survive. But this means you have to leave now, in case it causes me to digivolve."

"But…" Takato started, only to be interrupted immediately.

"Silence!" Musyamon barked at him. "Remember to always head north. Now make your partners digivolve, Tamers, and leave as fast as you can. NOW!"

Reluctantly, Terriermon, Juri and Jenrya turned around, soon followed by their friends. They all knew that Musyamon didn't mean to yell at them, but he was concerned about their safety. After some digivolutions, Beelzemon grabbed Hirokazu and Kenta, as he had already done it earlier that day, and took off into the night sky, with Guardromon flying right behind him. Dukemon Crimson Mode, who was carrying Sakuyamon, followed suit, after the priestess digimon had chanted a spell to illuminate the darkness around them. Finally, SaintGalgomon was the taillight, carefully holding Ryo and Juri in his hands.

"What about CyberDramon?" Jenrya asked from within the mighty Mega digimon.

"Don't worry," Ryo replied. "He'll join us soon enough."

Really did the Android digimon catch up after approximately two minutes of flight, and Ryo switched to using his own 'means of transport' now. Guided by Sakuyamon's illuminated staff, they all were heading towards the direction they hoped to be north now, when suddenly, far behind their backs, a huge column of light erupted from the tiny forest, accompanied by a horrible, blood-curdling scream.

'He's either an Ultimate now, or dead,' Ryo pondered. 'But even if he's SkullSatamon now, I hope we'll see him again some time.'

Unbeknownst to him, of course, all the others were having similar thoughts on their minds. But none of them turned back. They did not want to keep Musyamon in memory as SkullSatamon or as a fragmented packet of data, but as what he really had become to them.

A true friend.

* * *

to be continued…


	5. Gefuehle

A/N: Heeeeeere's Tommy… I mean chapter five. Thanks to Milleniumon for his support, and special thanks to my faithful beta-reader Austin-kun (TK2K). Yes, this one took me quite some time to write- I've been rather busy lately. I dedicate "Gefuehle" to my significant other, Franzi-chan, for obvious reasons. If you feel that this chapter is overloaded with fluff, see it as some sort of compensation, for I will unfortunately have to set this fic on hiatus for the next three weeks at least due to private reasons. Keep your fingers crossed that I'll survive University entrance in one piece and can continue writing with renewed enthusiasm then. So far, here's chapter five for you- enjoy!

5.) Gefuehle

Down in the darkness, the seemingly endless vastness of the digital steppe uncoiled as the small fellowship was floating- or being carried- through the ice cold air. Musyamon, or whatever he was now, must have been miles and miles away by now, but none of the Tamers was too eager to end the flight just yet. Not only would it have been rather uncomfortable to spend the night in the middle of a pitch-black nowhere, it would also bear a certain risk to their safety. Plus, both Takato and Beelzemon had made a promise, so it was no surprise that the two of them, leading the group, kept encouraging the others to go on.

However, while Dukemon Crimson Mode surely was a mighty digimon, he was not- like, literally, SaintGalgomon or Guardromon- a machine, and neither did he possess the demonic endurance of Beelzemon or the trained stamina of CyberDramon. Add the fact that he had to carry his double-edged sword and Sakuyamon, and it's not too astonishing anymore that Takato and Guilmon began feeling the strength-draining effect of their uninterrupted travel. Nevertheless, they were determined not to give up just yet.

'How are you feeling, boy?' Takato asked his digimon partner, who could only reply with a pained grunt.

'Yeah, same here.' Takato even managed to show a brief, lopsided grin. 'But we need to continue. If we're getting too exhausted, we can still land and rest a bit. After all, we don't want to drop to the ground because we've fallen asleep in mid-air, right?'

'No way!' Guilmon piped up, his voice indicating a newly-found strength. 'That would hurt Renamon too…'

Takato just had to chuckle at this. He pictured Guilmon and Renamon sitting in an Italian restaurant, having a candle light dinner, while he himself and Ruki were at the adjacent table and-

'Hey, what am I thinking? Yeesh, I guess the weariness doesn't really do me good…'

He shook his head to get rid of the phantasmagoric- but not at all unpleasant- thought, and tried to focus on their journey again.

Ruki watched the crimson red Mega digimon with something that could almost be called awe. She could tell that Takato was exhausted, but he was far from giving up. The girl wasn't surprised anymore, though. She had witnessed Takato's strong will on many occasions already, his victory against the entire Parasimon army being only one of them. Sure, he was just a clumsy gogglehead, but a very brave and likeable one…

'Ruki?' Renamon's voice invaded the girl's thoughts.

'Yeah?'

'I don't doubt that your daydreams are rather… interesting…' Ruki could literally feel her partner's half-amused, half-understanding smile now, '…but maybe we should keep concentrating, or our illumination spell will turn into a flickering.'

Ruki mentally cursed herself for letting her thoughts slip away so easily just because of Takato- and for the slight blush that appeared on her cheeks as a consequence of Renamon's observation. Luckily, Beelzemon's deep voice cut through the air at the precise moment.

"Guys? A house."

He was right. About half a mile of air-line distance away there was an undecorated, but relatively big brick house. The smoking chimney implied that it was inhabited, and its size raised the Tamers' hopes that it might provide enough space for all of them to sleep in it. Beelzemon, Dukemon CM, SaintGalgomon, Guardromon and CyberDramon floated to the ground right in front of the house, with as much elegance as their fatigue still allowed. All Mega level digimon, save MarineAngemon, de-digivolved back to their respective Rookie forms, and a righteously tired Takato knocked at the wooden door.

For about a minute, nothing happened. Then, finally, the door swung open with a creaking noise, and the Takato's face was illuminated by the flames that covered the homeowner's whole body. The boy's numb brain could, with some effort, identify him as Meramon.

"We're deeply sorry to bother you," Takato spoke, his voice literally dripping with drowsiness, "but would you please be so kind as to…" That was all he managed to say until he gave a strange half-sighing, half-snoring sound and collapsed to the ground.

* * *

Takato awoke on the floor- or, more precisely, on a futon which had been placed on the floor. Lying on his back, the first thing he saw when he opened his eyes again was the whitewashed ceiling of his and his friends' temporary hostel. Yawning, the boy switched to a sitting position and perceived his snoring digimon partner a few meters away from his feet. The room was simple, but not shabby, and big enough to provide enough room for the seven Tamers and six digimon- six, because CyberDramon was nowhere to be seen. Takato figured that the huge Android digimon was sleeping- if he was sleeping at all- either outside the house or at least in another room, due to his remarkable size.

Interior furnishings were scarce: just a desk with a chair in a corner, both made of metal, probably Chrome DigiZoid. Not really surprising; a Flame Digimon like Meramon wouldn't take much pleasure in wooden furniture. To Takato's left, Ryo, Juri and Impmon were sound asleep, along with Jenrya, Kenta and Hirokazu, all scattered across the room, with their respective digimon partners on or next to their futons, with the exception of Guardromon, who was standing in a corner and had apparently 'shut down' and Renamon, who had obviously fallen asleep sitting in aforementioned metal chair. Noticing that someone was missing in the picture, Takato slowly turned to the right.

Considering that Takato was sitting on the rightmost side of the room, it was not surprising that Ruki was rather close to him. Still, it made the boy feel a bit uneasy, as he could touch her if he wanted to by just reaching out with his hand.

As usual when she was sleeping, her hair was undone, and a single strand was falling loosely over her face. The picture reminded Takato of the foregone night and the terrible incident that had followed so strongly that he decided to do something against it. Carefully, he inched even closer to the sleeping girl. Amazed by his own courage, he reached out with his left hand and gently stroked the strand of curdled alizarin from out of Ruki's face, thus fully revealing her peaceful face and those enchanting amethyst eyes…

'Wait a second… amethyst eyes? Open eyes? NO!'

With a surprised gasp, Takato tried to literally jump away as fast as possible, but Ruki was faster. In a nanosecond, she had grasped the boy's left wrist and fixed it in a vice-like grip.

"Gogglehead…?" The drowsiness in her voice wasn't real- Takato could tell. "Just what the hell do you think you're doing?"

Takato gulped. "Umm, well, you know…" He winced a bit, as Ruki tightened her grip even more as he didn't reply instantly. "I was just… I mean… You had a strand of hair falling over your face, and I put it away…" He averted his gaze as he noticed that he was blushing, and suddenly found something terribly interesting next to his shoelaces. Hopefully Ruki wouldn't draw any wrong conclusions…

As for said girl, she was currently experiencing a mixture of sympathy, annoyance and embarrassment- a situation which made her feel rather uneasy. To make matters worse, she could literally feel a slight tinge of pink growing on her own cheeks as well.

"Well," she started, searching for something that would distract her conversation partner from her own uncertainty, "at least you didn't try to kill me again."

Takato looked at the girl again, and Ruki regretted her words the very moment she saw the pain and guilt in his eyes.

"Why did you say that?" Takato tried to restrain himself, but couldn't fully suppress the resonant emotion in his voice. "You know I'd never hurt you… I couldn't ever do that. I care too much about you to intentionally do any harm to you… I thought you already noticed that…" He had to stop, as he felt his voice beginning to crack, but he had made his point anyway.

Ruki bit her lower lip in shame. She wasn't exactly someone who was likely to admit her guilt, but she knew when she had gone too far. Of course, Takato would never hurt her, but she didn't really have that much experience with apologizing, and what Takato had said about how he cared about her made it even more difficult. So, in consequence, she did the only reasonable thing there was.

She hugged him.

To say that Takato was baffled would be the understatement of the century. He tried his best to overcome his surprise, though, to fully appreciate Ruki's amicable gesture- not to mention her body's warmth against his own, her loose hair tickling his cheek and her intoxicating fragrance. For some odd reason, the whole combination set off a series of tiny fireworks in his stomach and caused a strange, but far from unpleasant sensation to his young heart.

"I'm sorry gogglehead," Ruki murmured. "I really didn't mean it."

Takato wondered what she was actually talking about. Had she said something wrong? He wouldn't know. It was as if she had never hurt him in the first place, and even if so, he wouldn't mind. Hell, he wouldn't even mind if she beat him half-dead if she made up for it like that.

"It's alright," he managed to rasp. It was the definite truth. Life had seldom been as alright as it was right now, with Ruki embracing him. He felt so carefree, almost weightless, and strangely, his heart was beating much faster than usual. He felt Ruki stir- maybe she was just adjusting her position, but maybe she was about to release him again. However, Takato wanted her to stay; he didn't want her to let go of him just yet. So he simply hugged her back, gently encircling her slender waist and carefully pulling her closer. The second reason why he didn't want her to back away was his major blushing- although he almost feared that Ruki might feel the heat radiating from his cheeks.

'Why am I feeling like this?' he asked himself. 'Could it be that I'm…'

"Good morning guys!" an inadequately cheerful voice sounded up. "How- whoa!"

As if stung by an adder, Ruki broke free from Takato and nervously glanced at the newly awoken Juri.

"Morning," she answered, regaining her self-control. She was intentionally looking in the opposite direction of where Takato was now, to hide her own faint blush from the boy.

"Good morning Juri," Takato croaked. "Good morning guys," he continued, as the puppet girl's surprised exclamation had awoken the rest of the Tamers and digimon as well, aside from Impmon. Takato's face strongly resembled a red traffic light by now, and he was sincerely grateful as their host entered the room at the precise moment.

"Good morning," Meramon spoke in his pleasant and melodious voice. "I hope you have been sleeping well."

"Indeed," Renamon responded, indicating a bow. "We would like to thank you for your kind hospitality."

"The pleasure is all mine," the Champion replied just as politely. "As you might have guessed, guests are rare in this part of the Digital World, and I always greatly enjoy company. But I fear I have to leave you again for the time being, to fetch something to eat. I have plenty of dried fish from the lake, but surely you would appreciate some fresh fruit and berries from the forest to supplement the breakfast. How about a little lakeside walk in the meantime, to animate your appetite?" With that said, he vanished, and a second later, before any of the Tamers could inform him that food was purely optional for them, the sound of a door being shut could be heard. Deciding that it would be rude to turn Meramon's kind offer down anyway, the small group made their way towards aforementioned door to take a look at the lake the Flame digimon had been talking about. Only Juri gazed at the still snoring Impmon, and inquired whether or not they should wake him up.

"Just let him sleep," came Hirokazu's response, and the girl nodded affirmatively. There was no need to wake him up just yet- if he smelled breakfast, he'd probably be wide awake in an instant anyway.

Outside, the first warming sunrays welcomed the members of the small fellowship. There was indeed a lake right next to Meramon's residence, and the seemingly endless water surface glistened and shimmered, refracting the light in a kaleidoscope-like play of colours.

"Nice," Ryo commented. "We have never been here before." He pointed towards himself and CyberDramon, who was awaiting them outside the house where he had obviously spent the night. "I suppose that's because it's relatively hidden."

He was of course right. While the lake was of a remarkable size, the entire lakeside was nothing more than a gigantic clearance within the forest surrounding the whole scenario. Apparently, this was a more fertile area of the second plain. Right next to the house, there was a narrow path leading into the woods- most likely the way Meramon was taking right now.

The Tamers didn't have much time to ponder the question how a Flame digimon would be able to collect fruit, as all of a sudden, a gigantic water fountain erupted from the lake. Takato and the others turned around just in time to see how MarineDevimon stepped out of the water and immediately darted one of his numerous tentacles at the nearest target- Juri. The girl screamed with surprise and fear, as the evil Ultimate tugged his bizarre makeshift lasso back towards his body, dragging Juri along with it.

"A pleasure to meet you, Tamers," he spoke in a low voice. "Let's not lose valuable time, shall we? Please be so kind as to hand your data modification devices over."

For a second or two, none of the children understood what MarineDevimon was talking about, but Juri's whimpering as the submarine digimon squeezed his tentacle made their minds work faster than usual. Obviously, their attacker wanted their D-Arks…

Jenrya was the first to throw his to the ground. He didn't want Juri to get hurt, and the determination in MarineDevimon's eyes was more than sufficient a proof for his seriousness. The other Tamers followed suit, and, grinning, MarineDevimon used his tentacles to throw the D-Arks into the lake, one after the other.

"Now that we have clarified that issue, it's time to destroy you. Excuse my frankness, but I'm not a mon of many words." Another mischievous sneer crossed his face as he tightened his grip around Juri, causing her dorsal vertebra to make a clearly audible and extremely disturbing cracking noise.

"So you're hiding behind a hostage, you wimp." Takato's voice, while astonishingly calm, was at the same time literally dripping with abhorrence as he spoke. "A girl, to make matters worse. You scum."

Takato's right hand clenched to a fist, and his eyes were flickering with hatred against the cowardly Champion level digimon. In consequence, Guilmon gave a vicious growl, and his eyes changed colour.

Red.

"Uh, buddy?" Kenta tried to address Takato, but the gogglehead was dead to the world. He simply continued to stare at MarineDevimon, and it was merely a matter of time until another appearance of the dreadful beast Megidramon…

Ruki was right next to Takato, and shook the boy violently, but to no avail. She slapped him.

No reaction.

She slapped him twice.

No reaction, except that Guilmon's eyes seemed to glow in an even brighter red by now. Ruki's mind raced. She had to do something in order to make Takato calm down, or they would all be lost for sure. She took a deep breath, faced the still fuming boy and did what her intuition told her to do.

She kissed him.

* * *

to be continued...


	6. Digitation

A/N: No, I'm not dead just yet. But I had quite a few problems lately- writer's block and a computer which was at the repair service for more than a month being just two of them-, all of which aren't exactly beneficial when trying to write a fic. Still, I'm deeply sorry for taking so long to update.

And yes, I know that the format is horrible. The changes this site is experiencing never seem to benefit me, really...

However, thanks a million to my beta-reader Austin-kun, who never seems to grow tired of putting up with me and my writing. His assistance was a crucial factor in finally finishing this chapter.

I'd furthermore like to express my gratitude to all the faithful readers who are still bearing with me and my fic, and especially to all reviewers.

6.) Digitation

'That's it, we're all dead. Ruki will not let anyone who is witness to this live to tell anybody about it.'

Strangely, that was Takato's first thought when he felt Ruki's lips meet his own- just a side-effect of the confusion washing over his mind, of course, but still very Takato-like. The initial surprise caused him to miss most of the kiss, but he surely would have little trouble remembering those feelings later. Hell, he'd probably remember them forever.

Violins striking up in the background? No.

A second (and possibly third) sun arising? Nope.

Cherubim choirs intonating enchanting melodies? Not at all.

Takato's quick, subconscious checklist of the best-known clichés associated with the first kiss was far less impressive than one might think. Only the famous fireworks were definitely being set off inside his stomach, effectively burning his anger and hatred to ashes, from which-just like a phoenix- a bundle of totally different feelings arose. Enormously pleasant feelings.

_Don't dare me now_

_The threatening shadows will pass by_

_They're getting closer now_

_Open your eyes_

_Wake up my dear young friend_

_And hate shall fade away_

Blind Guardian, "Battlefield"

Ruki's sight on the incident was much more rational than Takato's. The kiss did not last "just a blink of an eye and yet an eternity", but roughly ten seconds. Plus or minus one. Per definition, it was not even a kiss in the actual sense of the term but an attempt to prevent the gogglehead and his dino-boy from causing even more troubles than they had already slipped into- and a quick side glance towards Guilmon, whose eyes had changed in two ways (firstly, they had adopted their normal colour again, and secondly, they showed a mixture of calmness and confusion), told Ruki that it had been successful.

'It's not a real kiss,' she kept telling herself. 'Just a tool that has worked, nothing more.'

She made a mental pause.

'So why the hell is my heart beating like stupid then?'

It was true, after all- it seemed like her heart tried to jump out of her chest any second. Her brain, as smart as it usually was, was now numbed by the torrent of unfamiliar feelings that simple kiss had awoken within her soul. A small, piteous rest of her usual analyzing ability started a faint attempt to blame it on puberty, but as soon as she came to 'that's absolutely normal when a girl kisses a boy she… likes??' she decided it was wiser to simply let the topic die.

All this, however, did not explain why she still had not pulled away by now.

With a lot less haste than she thought would have been appropriate she ended the kiss now, producing a slight smacking sound. When she eventually turned around again, she saw that everyone was staring at her. Not surprising.

'If you say a single word about this, MarineDevimon will be the smallest of your worries.'

She didn't say that aloud, but the look she gave her fellow Tamers was speaking volumes. Jen was the first to advert his gaze back to their actual enemy, perhaps because he grasped the meaning behind Ruki's seemingly crazy behaviour first. The others followed suit and were determined to fight to the bitter end- with their bare hands if necessary. It was then when Ruki realized that not everybody had stopped staring at her.

MarineDevimon had his eyes glued to her, taken aback by surprise.

Considering that a digimon that is purely evil probably has little experience with kisses, to him it must have looked like a display of affection. In a life and death situation. With one of their friends held a hostage. So, to say that MarineDevimon was baffled would be a definite understatement.

It would not be of much comfort to him, but poor Takato was faring no better. He licked his lips nervously, as if a part of him tried to taste some remaining traces of Ruki on them, and slowly turned to face the evil Sea digimon like his friends had already done. Now that the initial shock had subsided, his brain was… whitewashed. Not as in how Ruki sometimes had said it to poke fun at him, but in the actual sense of the term. His gaze met MarineDevimon's, but he did not really see the digimon. He stared right through him, as his mind was unable to process anything, even if it was just the simple command "identify being standing over there as enemy."

It was then when MarineDevimon finally recovered. His eyes glowed in a strange, golden tone for a second or two and then went totally blank as he remembered his mission. Without further hesitation, he aimed one of his remaining tentacles at Takato- simply because he seemed to be the most immobile target.

But the deadly strike never came, since at the precise moment, a sharp voice echoed from his left hand side, effectively distracting him again.

"You will not do any harm to those who are still my guests, vicious monstrosity!" Meramon shouted as he dashed out of the outskirts of the forest and into the open.

MarineDevimon was only mildly surprised, and, almost casually, swung another one of his tentacles at the flame digimon charging at him, while the first raced towards our favourite gogglehead like a deadly lightning bolt.

Meramon screamed in helpless anger, and suddenly started to glow in a blindingly bright light. The sheer force of his digivolution knocked the tentacle slashing at him away, and with a desperate burst of speed, the "newly-born" DeathMeramon reached the limb aiming at Takato and unleashed his Heavy Metal Fire attack on it at point-blank range.

The result was overwhelming. Not only did the tentacle not reach Takato, it was literally hammered into a nearby tree trunk. MarineDevimon spent less than half a second with freeing it from there, but that was more than enough for his super fast opponent to approach the spot where the tentacle holding Juri captive was connected to the digimon's body. DeathMeramon placed the palm of his hand there and made it literally explode in a darting flame.

MarineDevimon groaned with a mixture of agony and anger, as the pain reflex worked its magic and caused the formerly vice-like grip around Juri's waist to loosen distinguishably. The puppet girl didn't lose any time and instinctively broke free from the deadly clutch, stumbling right into Jenrya, who gently lowered her to the ground.

MarineDevimon grunted in displeasure and immediately tried to fetch his temporary hostage again, but his fiery counterpart obviously did not approve, seeing how he smashed his still burning fist into the Marine digimon's face. The evil Ultimate stumbled, but did not fall- still, DeathMeramon seized the opportunity and swiftly flung his Heat Chain around his enemy's neck, tugging it back as hard as he possibly could. MarineDevimon was dragged forward and somehow saved himself from stumbling once more as the air left his lungs with a wheezing sound. Small blue flames started to dance across the links of the Chrome DigiZoid chain, which was still tightly wrapped around MarineDevimon's neck, apparently in an attempt to choke the evil digimon to death, or at least to render him unconscious. A disturbing sizzling sound could be heard, and the disgusting stench of burned skin was filling the air.

MarineDevimon grimaced, but was far from surrendering to his attacker. Quite the contrary, he immediately used two of his limbs to counter-attack and strangle DeathMeramon with as much force he could muster up, totally uncaring if he suffered from even more burns or not. DeathMeramon doubled his efforts to decide the fight in his favour now, lambent flames erupting from his body making him resemble a living flashover more than a digital being. But MarineDevimon was extraordinarily strong- too strong for an Ultimate, as it seemed- and it was merely a matter of time until DeathMeramon would lose the unequal choking contest.

"CyberDramon!" Ryo spoke, and as if his digimon had only waited for that single word, he charged at the submarine digimon without hesitation, ready to release his Desolation Claw at point blank range as to not endanger their ally. MarineDevimon however noticed the motion from the corner of his eye, and lashed one of his unoccupied tentacles at the Android digimon. The odd limb entwined around CyberDramon's left ankle and almost effortlessly lifted him high into the air, only to crash him down to the ground on MarineDevimon's left hand side again with incredible force. Even in this weakened state, MarineDevimon was a horrible opponent, and CyberDramon paid a high price for finding out about that. His left leg broke like a matchstick, but at least he was saved from the pain as the world around him went black.

Meanwhile, DeathMeramon slowly, but steadily had to experience the effects of the strangulation, eventually forcing him down on his knees. MarineDevimon hissed with triumph and used two of his remaining tentacles to finally push his enemy to the ground for good, while he was hit by a Pyro Sphere and a Diamond Storm without even turning a hair. His priorities were set; the Ultimate weakly struggling against his grip was the main enemy to defeat. The pitiful Rookies would follow later- they were just the icing on the cake.

DeathMeramon's blazing flames had died down by now, and his grasp on the Heat Chains was loosening, eventually releasing the pressure on his opponent's throat.

A mischievous grin appeared on MarineDevimon's face, but it was lacking real emotion. It looked… forced, in default of a better way to describe it.

"You were right, you fool. It would not be polite to delete the guests prior to the host. But I fear we'll have to end this little game now- it was fun as long as it lasted."

His facial expression belied his own words. It was more than obvious that this monster didn't even know what fun was.

"Anyway, prepare to meet your doom now. GUILTY BLA-"

He never finished the sentence, and never unleashed what would surely have been DeathMeramon's exitus either. Instead, his blank eyes suddenly changed dramatically, displaying both surprise and furious hatred. The much needed oxygen filling DeathMeramon's aching lungs as MarineDevimon finally let go of his neck was driven out again just as promptly as the submarine Ultimate digimon collapsed atop of his half-dead opponent. Wiggling himself out from underneath MarineDevimon, who was obviously fighting unconsciousness, he took a look to the left.

Nonchalantly, the Demon Lord known as Beelzemon- now in his Blast Mode- acted like blowing away the (non-existent) smoke rising up from the muzzle of his weapon, which he had used to take out MarineDevimon by means of a heftily charged-up Corona Blaster.

"Now now, that's not nice. You started without me."

Tauntingly, he aimed his gun at the badly wounded Parasimon trying to crawl away from its temporary "host".

"Look who we have here. You're not leaving already, are you?" he spoke mockingly as he passed the short distance to the parasite. As soon as he had reached it, he kneeled down next to Parasimon and placed one of his razor-sharp claws at what he assumed was the spider's chin.

Hesitating, the Tamers and their digimon approached the two Megas and formed a slightly warped half circle around them. Just Takato still wasn't able to move, as if in trance. Whether it was the afterglow of the kiss, MarineDevimon's attempt to kill him or the unexpected confrontation with yet another Parasimon wasn't clear, but anyway, it caused Ruki to growl slightly in annoyance as she grabbed the boy by the wrist.

"Come on gogglehead, we don't have time all day long." Impatiently, she dragged Takato along with her towards Parasimon.

"Aww, holding hands already? Isn't that sweet?"

Kenta stared at his sidekick in sheer disbelief. If that kind of humour was Hirokazu's way to deal with the view of the fierce battle he had just witnessed, he surely had poked it on the absolutely wrong person.

The punch Ruki aimed at the visor boy missed him by an inch or two, but nevertheless, Hirokazu decided it was a better idea to stay behind Guardromon for the time being. Of course he was unable to see Ruki's faint blushing from there, luckily for her- and probably for him as well.

"Kenta?" Ryo spoke up. "Would you mind…?" He made a gesture to the right, and the bespectacled boy nodded affirmatively. With Ryo by his side, he stepped on the former battlefield to let MarineAngemon attend to CyberDramon's and DeathMeramon's injuries. The others continued to just stand there and gravely look at Parasimon. The familiar "N" sign on its already dissolving back literally stroke them, but nobody said a word until Jen finally broke the silence.

"Why did you order MarineDevimon to attack us?"

Speaking of the Ultimate, he quickly shot a side-glance towards the blue body still lying on the ground. He was alive, as far as Jen could tell, but he had eventually lost his fight against passing out by now, so the blue-haired boy averted his gaze back to meet Parasimon's eyes, waiting for an answer. He didn't really expect one, though, and so it didn't come as much of a surprise when the spider remained silent.

For about five seconds.

Then, it exclaimed a gurgling, blood-curdling scream and literally exploded into myriads of tiny data fragments which soared through the air for a heartbeat before they finally scattered in various directions.

Beelzemon growled as his prisoner died away right under his hands, and got to his feet again.

"Well, it's a shame. I should have-"

He was going to say 'I should have tried to keep it alive and torture it a little to squeeze some answers out of it', but when his glance met Juri's eyes, he decided it wasn't wise to say anything along those lines.

"-known beforehand that it won't tell us anything," he finished his sentence now. If any of the others realized what he really wanted to say, none of them showed it. Cracking his knuckles, and just to shift the general attention to something different, he turned on his heel and faced MarineDevimon, who seemed to be awakening.

"What about him?"

Jenrya eyed the stirring figure with a taxing look.

"He's dying. Parasimon's influence made him stronger and tougher than he really is, and now that he's no longer controlled, his body will fail."

Takato finally snapped back to reality and addressed MarineAngemon, who was still busy with healing DeathMeramon.

"Do you think you can treat his wounds?"

The small pink Mega digimon glanced at MarineDevimon, and finally nodded in affirmation.

"Try it then, please," Takato muttered in response. "It wasn't his fault, and he surely doesn't deserve to die. The… possession he's gone through will trouble his mind enough already."

Takato had to know what he was talking about, of course- and so did Ruki, for that matter. She couldn't help but feel a sudden surge of sympathy for the gogglehead soar through her heart.

MarineAngemon nodded again, and started to use his powers to heal his viral counterpart. Really did it take MarineDevimon only a few more minutes until he had fully recovered. Even the scar around his neck where the blistering chain had choked him was in the state of vanishing, so that he was able to get to his feet again. Wordlessly, he stepped towards the lakeshore, plunged his tentacles into the water and fished the Tamers' D-Arks out of the water, one after the other, placing them on the sandy ground near the water. One last time, he glanced back at the small fellowship with a look that was hard to interpret, and slowly sunk into the depths of the lake.

"Not really the affectionate type, huh?" Hirokazu piped up, as he turned towards Beelzemon Blast Mode, who de-digivolved back to Impmon.

"Hey, how did you know that he was possessed by Parasimon anyway? I mean you hit that beast right in the chest!"

The small purple Rookie sweatdropped, and was obviously uncomfortable with that question.

"Well, you know, I didn't. Actually I was aiming at MarineDevimon's head."

Hirokazu chuckled.

"But," Impmon continued in a defensive tone, "try to aim properly when you just got up, and didn't even have breakfast!"

"Hey, don't pick on him," Ryo intervened. CyberDramon was limping, but apparently feeling better now after MarineAngemon's treatment, and followed his Tamer towards Impmon.

"He's our hero of the day."

Hirokazu bowed in apology as a result of what his idol hat said, and Impmon gave a lopsided grin as he retorted, "Thanks. But, you know, speaking of breakfast…"

_to be continued..._


	7. Dunkel

A/N: Finally, chapter seven is here. Unfortunately, a severe case of writer's block caused it to take quite some time, yes- though it is a bit longer than its predecessors. Once again, sincere thanks to my beta-reader Austin-kun, who saves my third-class chapters on a regular basis.

To Lunar Starlight: You're right, I guess. I wouldn't necessarily say that Hirokazu is more of a leader than Kenta, though, but I probably could have found a better term, yes.

7.) Dunkel

Ryo had been right, of course. Impmon was indeed the hero of the day, so nobody complained as he was sitting not at, but _on_ the Chrome DigiZoid table in DeathMeramon's residence shortly after, stuffing everything that even looked edible into his mouth. And he got his fair share of food, since neither the other digimon nor their Tamers were hungry. Even Guilmon was content with a small snack consisting of about a dozen fish only. As fate would have it, Takato and Ruki were seated next to each other, but Ruki literally stabbed everyone with death glares who dared to look even in their approximate direction. The danger was banned, but that didn't mean the anxiety was gone as well.  
Finally, Jenrya cleared his throat to break the uncomfortable silence and spoke up, addressing their host, "I… -we- want to thank you for your help. You suffered a lot of pain to help us."  
DeathMeramon made a dismissive gesture in response.  
"It was nothing. You have been the first guests to visit me for ages now- what kind of host would I be if I let you down in the face of life-threatening danger? Plus, I'm very sure it was you who made me digivolve in the first place, so I owe you a lot."  
"Still, it's my… I mean it's our fault that you were hurt," Juri joined the conversation. "If you don't mind, we'll stay with you until you have recovered fully."  
Takato looked at the girl with sympathy. The purpose of their journey was to rescue her digimon partner, but still she was worried more about DeathMeramon's condition. He was really glad to have a friend like her.  
Unbeknownst to the gogglehead of course, Jenrya had similar thoughts about Juri that very moment. His glance caught Takato's, and for a heartbeat, a twinge of jealousy bugged the blue-haired boy. But immediately he relaxed again. Why should he be jealous, anyway? Not that he liked Juri "like that" or something… Besides, he was very sure that Takato's heart belonged to another girl already, even though he himself might not be aware of it just yet. He smiled to himself, but was cautious to not show it openly.  
Yes, being the gogglehead's best friend had some advantages to it. He was quite sure that most- if not all- of the shy glances Takato had directed towards Ruki were purely subconscious (yet), but that didn't mean that there was nothing to them. Luckily for the fearless leader of the Tamers, Jenrya knew how to keep an unspoken secret, since otherwise, Terriermon would have more than just one good laugh at the expense of Takato and- much more insalubrious- Ruki. For a moment, the absurd- and dreadful- thought of him and Terriermon having a telepathic link like Ruki and Renamon entered Jenrya's mind, and he couldn't fully suppress a giggle as the image of a totally perplex Terriermon floated through his head.  
Unfortunately, Ruki couldn't read his mind. To her, it looked clearly like he was laughing at something totally different- and really, you can't blame her for thinking that. Right when her face got that lovely 'I'll slowly remove several of your vitally important inner organs now'-expression, Takato decided to step into the breach for Lee-kun.  
"Uh, Ruki?"  
The entire room seemed to hold its breath now. Even Impmon decreased his eating rate for about two percent. Hirokazu and Kenta nervously glanced at each other. Terriermon smoothly slid under the table and cowered in a defensive stance.  
"Thank you."  
Takato gave his fellow Tamer a shy grin, before the thing next to his shoelaces seemed to have re-appeared.  
As for the redhead he'd addressed, she was baffled at the first moment.  
'It was just a tool that worked, remember? No need to blush or anything. He's just being thankful, that's all.'  
Unfortunately, despite she was trying to reassure herself, she was blushing a bit. Maybe nobody else noticed, maybe- and that was far more believable- nobody dared to say a word about it.  
"You're welcome… I guess…" Ruki finally answered. She cursed her own voice for sounding so much weaker than she had intended. It was Kenta, of all, who finally relaxed the situation a bit as he spoke up, "Uh, MarineAngemon? Do you think you could continue to treat DeathMeramon's and CyberDramon's injuries?"  
The happy squeal the small, pink Mega digimon gave in response finally took the last bit of anxiety from the group, ashe floated outside where CyberDramon was to do as he was told, accompanied by his Tamer and Ryo, who wanted to ensure that his digimon partner endured the disgraceful procedure. Hirokazu, accompanied by Guardromon, was on his heels- force of habit, probably.  
"Well," DeathMeramon spoke, "I suppose you will continue your journey after your friend out there has recovered?"  
"Indeed," Renamon replied. "We are heading for Aziluth."  
DeathMeramon slightly tilted his head, a quizzical expression appearing on his face. "Aziluth? I've never heard of a place with that name. However," he added quickly as he caught Juri's half-irritated, half-disappointed glance, "that doesn't mean much. I've been leading a hermit's life ever since, and didn't exactly get around to see the world that much."  
He paused, grimacing with pain, as a new wave of pain surged through his still heavily battered body.  
"Your wounds need additional treatment," Juri commented with concern in her voice. She got to her feet and offered her help to lead DeathMeramon outside, to where MarineAngemon was. Jen, Renamon and Guilmon followed suit to support the Ultimate digimon's considerable weight on the way outside. DeathMeramon nodded thankfully, while a spark flashed up in his eyes, and immediately the flames covering his arms and the sides of his body died down, revealing the shiny metal surface of his "actual" body.  
"It's not hot, don't worry," he said, and the two children and two digimon carefully took him outside, leaving Ruki and Takato alone with Impmon, who was already sleeping like a log by now. Not surprising, considering his ample breakfast.  
Takato gave DeathMeramon's disappearing form a curious look.  
"At least now we know how he's able to collect fruit and stuff like that."  
His voice didn't really reach Ruki. She was too absent-minded to notice it.  
'Why did they have to leave me alone with gogglehead? Almost as if they had planned… Gee, quit that, will you? You're getting paranoid.'  
She let out a soft sigh, which immediately caught Takato's attention.  
"Huh? Are you alright?"  
Immediately, Ruki snapped back to reality, realizing that Takato's voice was literally dripping with concern.  
'He's worried… about me? Stupid, stupid gogglehead…'  
Despite that thought, her lips curled into something that faintly resembled a smile, as she shook her head (at Takato's naïve kindness) and almost simultaneously nodded (to answer his question).  
"I'm fine, gogglehead. It's just that… you… I…"  
Suddenly, realization struck her. There was something wrong in this picture… Smirking, she leaned closer towards the goggle-headed Tamer.  
"Hey, Taka-chan…?" she whispered, staring deeply into her fellow Tamer's eyes.  
In consequence, Takato's mind went blank and his mouth ajar. Had she just called him…?  
He was too stunned at first to behold how Ruki's right hand slowly slid under the table and snapped back again, jerking a whining Terriermon along with it. As she had expected, her whisper had caused the small Rookie digimon to close his eyes and lift his left ear into the air to catch the conversation better- almost an invitation to grab him.  
"Eavesdropping on us, huh, you little rat?" Ruki growled. "Get a life, you freak!" With that, she elegantly threw the screaming bunny/dog digimon through the open house door.  
Takato gulped, and cleared his throat. For a moment it had seemed… no. He really shouldn't think about this any further…  
As for Ruki, she got to her feet now as well, deciding to have a little talk with Jenrya about the spoiled brat he called his partner. Upon realizing that Takato still didn't move, however, she turned around again and eyed him with a mix of suspicion and sympathy.  
"Hey, don't get any funny ideas gogglehead, alright?"  
She was honestly relieved when he commented her statement with one of his usual lopsided grins.  
"Now get going already, Taka-chan." Ruki winked barely visible, and his grin grew even wider.  
'What the hell am I doing there?' Ruki mentally asked herself. 'Toying around with gogglehead… Must be the heat or something.'  
Still, she couldn't help but show a brief smile herself as the two young Tamers stepped outside through the door.

It was only about noon of the same day when MarineAngemon exhaustedly flew back right into Kitagawa Kenta's arms. What the tiny fairy digimon had achieved in that short amount of time could not necessarily be called a miracle, but it came pretty close to that. CyberDramon's left ankle, which had literally been shattered, now only caused a slight stinging sensation every now and then anymore, and DeathMeramon's state had changed from half-dead to slightly battered. A few small cuts and bruises were still left, but those would heal without further treatment as well.  
"Well, I suppose this is goodbye, then," DeathMeramon addressed the small fellowship, which had gathered outside his house.  
"That is true. But we will never forget you, nor what you have done for us," Renamon answered representatively for all of the Tamers and digimon.  
"I'm sure we'll see each other again," Juri added, smiling cheerfully at their temporary host.  
"You bet," Impmon barged in. "After all, I have a promise to keep. And as chance would have it, this seems to be the perfect place for a little sightseeing tour of the Digital World."  
This strange statement earned him several bewildered and questioning looks, but the small purple Rookie would say no more. Instead, he nonchalantly folded his arms behind his head and started to walk away northwards. Apparently, this was just his way to bid his farewell to someone, so the others had no choice but to catch up with him. Occassionally turning back for a few last glances and waving motions, they entered the forest near the lakeshore to continue their way to the northernmost part of the second plain. About a minute later, the lake had vanished from their visual fields, which were now completely filled out by trees and thicket.

The day turned out to be so beautiful it was almost corny. A slight breeze and the forest's humidity did a good job with cooling the party down, and quite a number of small, bird-like digimon which strongly resembled finches restlessly kept singing and chirping.  
All this, of course, did not help their aching feet. They had been wandering through the forest for three hours straight by now, and all of them- save Renamon and MarineAngemon, who had a rather comfortable time being carried by his Tamer- were righteously worn out. But except the obligatory occasional sighs and groans from Hirokazu and Kenta, nobody was complaining. After all, none of them had forgotten the purpose of their journey, and as long as Juri could keep going, so could the rest of them.  
As for Ruki, however, she had yet another reason to drag her exhausted body farther to the north.  
'There's no way I admit my weariness while our fearless leader is still marching on,' she thought sarcastically. Takato had actually made quite a bit of impression on her with the way he was bound to keep his promise towards Juri, even though this subconscious thought would not even enter her mind, let alone ever escape her mouth.  
It was about then when the Tamers/Digimon group reached a relatively large glade. No match for the gigantic clearance that held "DeathMeramon's Lake", of course, but still of remarkable size- roughly a hectare. The ground became noticeably softer as they stepped on the fresh, green grass- and almost as if on cue, Juri stumbled and would surely have toppled down, if it hadn't been for Jenrya who had been walking by her side and thus was able to catch her just in time. The blue-haired boy gently lowered her to the ground, a mixture of perplexity and concern flickering in his eyes, which intensified even more so as Juri grimaced with suppressed pain. She gave her friends, who had by now gathered around her, an apologetic smile, and mouthed a silent 'Thank you' to Jenrya.  
"I'm sorry," she spoke up. "It's just a little cramp, that's all."  
Jenrya valued her right leg- the one that had given way- with an inspecting look.  
'In situations like this one, Leomon's words prove to be correct once more. She does have a lion heart,' Jenrya thought, and couldn't help but feel another surge of sympathy for the puppet girl building up inside of him.  
What he finally said out loud, though, was, "A cramp? Looks more like a typical muscle hardening to me. Don't you dare taking just one more step, you hear me?" The wink and the tiny smile he gave the girl belied the rigid strictness his voice had adapted for that last sentence, and she obviously did notice it, as she simply replied with a smile of her own.  
"We'll rest here, guys," Jen now addressed the rest of the bunch. Nobody objected. Only Kenta asked why they couldn't simply make their partners digivolve, thus avoiding any further cramps, muscle hardenings or the likes, which immediately earned him a punch in the ribs from Hirokazu.  
"Shut up, will you?" the infamous visor boy hissed into his fellow Tamer's ear. "I'm not exactly looking forward to travelling, followed by travelling and, for a change, some travelling."  
Ryo answered Kenta's question in Jen's place, "It might not be wise to exhaust our partners without knowing what's still waiting for us. I also have a strange notion that we're not far away from the wasteland that's shielding Aziluth from the Digital World, and I have a hunch we'll need every bit of strength when we get there."  
He was right, of course, so Tamers and digimon alike sat or lay down on the meadow amidst the wood and tried their best to relax a bit.  
"Do you mind…?" Jenrya asked Juri, and, without waiting for an answer, reached out to feel her right calf- much more intense than would have been necessary, actually.  
"Hmmm… I don't know much of sports medicine, but I think it's best if we spend the night here."  
"I'm sorry," came Juri's muttered reply. "That's all my fault. If…"  
"Quit!" Jenrya cut her off. "Don't even think that! Your condition is the only thing to worry about right now, and I won't allow for you to get hurt even more." He noticed that he had said 'I won't allow', and not 'we won't allow' the very second he spoke the words, and in consequence, a slight blush crept over his cheeks.  
"I… uh… Sorry, nature calls." He literally sprang to his feet and showed a goofy- and, in his opinion, absolutely stupid- grin before he hurriedly retreated back into the nearby outskirt of the forest, where he leaned against the wooden surface of a large, maple-like tree and closed his eyes.  
"Alright Jen, calm down," he murmured to himself. "Just what was that? Why am I acting like that? I mean seriously, Juri's my friend. No need to get so bent out of shape…"  
"'Out of shape' is a good keyword. I mean you barely ran fifty meters of way and you're already wheezing," a very familiar voice piped up right next to him.  
"Terriermon," Jenrya addressed the intruder, "have you ever heard of the word 'privacy'?"  
"Have you ever heard of the word 'liar'? It doesn't seem like nature's calling too loudly, is it?" Terriermon retorted.  
The small Rookie's Tamer sighed deeply. "Yeah, you're right. It's just… confusing. As if I couldn't make up my mind about what to say, or what to think, or…"  
"What to feel?" Terriermon interrupted his partner.  
The look his Tamer gave him in response was absolutely priceless.  
"How…"  
"Geez, come on Jen," Terriermon broke in once again. "I stick around with you 24/7, remember? And just because I'm small, that doesn't mean I'm stupid."  
Jenrya was a bit shocked, actually, not necessarily because of his partner's observation, but because of the unknown seriousness in his voice. No jokes, no puns, no funny remarks whatsoever. Terriermon was- maybe for the first time in history- absolutely composed.  
"You like her. I know it, you know it, and I bet even she knows it." At long last, a wide grin crossed the bunny's face. "And if she didn't know it yet, she sure as hell knows it now."  
Jenrya couldn't help but chuckle a bit at the comment. It did not relieve him, but at least it took the edge of the almost suffocating anxiety.  
"I guess you're right, Terriermon," he sighed. "I like her. But not like…" He paused, as he just wasn't able to finish the sentence. 'Not like that', was the obvious option- but was it true?  
He didn't know. Terriermon might have actually hit the nail on the head, even though Jenrya's experiences with feelings as deep as romantic affection were very limited.  
'What if I… Do I…?'  
_'Oh, you do. Believe me, you do.'_ The voice was shrill and unpleasant, and it seemed to come from… nowhere.  
'Do you hear that voice too?' Jen wanted to ask Terriermon. 'Who is there?' Jen wanted to ask… well, whoever was there. But he didn't ask either of those questions. He just stood there while his eyes turned blank.  
Then, the world around him went black.  
He blinked. He had not suddenly gone blind, it was just the famous instant nightfall of the Digital World which had stolen the light away. Only from somewhere at his right-hand side, he was met by a bit of illumination. Normally, his brain would have figured that Ryo's and/or CyberDramon's experience with the Digital World had caused the others to light a campfire just in time. But he didn't even notice it in the state he was in. There was no Terriermon, no forest, no Digital World whatsoever.  
There was only the voice.  
_'You are strong. You deserve her. So get what is rightfully yours.'_  
A pause.  
_'GET HER!'_  
Yes. He would.

_For a decent price  
I've banned kindness from my heart  
The spirit of all truth and beauty  
Pawned for my desire _

Blind Guardian, "The Soulforged"

"Uh, Jen? You're okay, right? Right?" Terriermon was honestly concerned about his Tamer, whose eyes were alarmingly… empty, lacking a better description. Jenrya turned his head to face his partner, but it seemed as if he stared right through him. Calmly, he grabbed his D-Ark and showed an ice-cold smile.

"Pyro Sphere!" Guilmon shouted as he ignited the firewood the other digimon and their Tamers had collected just a few minutes earlier. Just a few seconds later, it was night, and the small fellowship gathered around the campfire.  
"Just what's taking Jen so long?" Takato asked no one in particular. Juri had told them that the blue-haired boy had retreated into the forest, without, however, mentioning neither the supposedly 'real' reason nor the one he had made up.  
As for said girl, she was starting to get worried about her friend. Determinedly, she got to her feet, not caring about the pain,and headed towards the approximate direction where Jen and Terriermon had vanished.  
"Hey!" A voice behind her piped up, obviously to tell her not to just walk into the darkness like that, but she didn't really notice it.  
The next thing the others heard from her was a desperate scream.

Tamers and Digimon alike sprang to their feet and rushed to where Juri's voice had come from, the all-devouring blackness notwithstanding. However, there was no need for them to cope with the darkness, as suddenly, a gigantic creature stepped into the light cast by the campfire.  
SaintGalgomon was different in two aspects.  
Firstly, its colour had changed from green to black.  
And secondly, his right hand now held a scared and confused Juri Katou.  
Kenta took a look at his D-Ark, which was just an automatic reaction. He didn't really have to check the data to know that this was BlackSaintGalgomon, not did any of the others have any doubts about who stood there in front of them.  
The question was _how_ and _why_.  
"Lee-kun?" Takato said discomposedly. "Is that you?"  
Normally, Guilmon and his digital companions would have attacked the intruder by now. But how could they, if it was SaintGalgomon, be it black or not? And, more importantly, how could they without putting Juri's health at stake?  
"She is mine," BlackSaintGalgomon simply replied- but in a voice that wasn't Jen's, and surely not Terriermon's. It was a lot deeper, and somehow… dreadful. The monstrous Mega eyed Takato closely, then let his glance swerve over to Ruki.  
"You are too weak to claim what is yours. I am not. That's all there is to it."  
Suddenly, hydraulic noises and clicking could be heard, as he prepared his entire built-in artillery to be unleashed at the others.  
"And weaklings have to be annihilated."  
"NO!" Juri shouted at the top of her lungs, and really did the mighty Mega hesitate for a moment to look at her face, which by now was drowned in tears.  
"I don't know what happened to you," she sobbed, "but, please, stop it. Don't hurt them. They are your friends- our friends, don't you remember?"  
And, whispering, she added, "I want my Lee-kun back…"  
A minute passed, and BlackSaintGalgomon still had not moved an inch. He simply stood there, seemingly lost in thoughts. On the other hand, none of the others could dare to attack him- after all, his grip around Juri had not loosened one bit. It would probably take a lighting bolt to take him out fast enough…  
Then, the lightning bolt came.

Of course, it was not a real lightning bolt that suddenly hit BlackSaintGalgomon, but close enough. For a moment, the Tamers thought they had just been seeing things, and that the black/red blur had simply been a strange trick of light. But BlackSaintGalgomon's reaction proved the contrary. The viral Mega level digimon suddenly froze on the spot and simply fell to the ground, releasing his temporary captive from his grip. Renamon caught Juri in mid-fall and hurriedly retreated, before the walking fortress could squeeze them to death. However, BlackSaintGalgomon split up in three different beings- Jenrya Lee, Terriermon, and a pitch-black spider-like creature: a Parasimon.  
It was different than the others, but undoubtedly did it belong to that special parasite species, and on its back was the only too familiar N-sign.  
"Rejoice, Tamers," it croaked, coughing out some lumps of decomposed data along with it.  
"As soon as I, the leader of all Parasimon, am dead, you'll have successfully caused the extinction of an entire digimon species. I hope you are proud." Its voice now changed to a tone of triumphant mockery, "Celebrate as long as you still can, _Tamers_."  
It sounded like it would spit out that last word- literally, as it coughed up a last bit of decomposed data right after finishing the sentence, and finally dissipated into his digital remains.

"What… was that?" Hirokazu was the first to break the following silence, after they had carried the unconscious Jenrya and Terriermon to the campfire.  
"Parasimon," Ruki answered laconically.  
"Very funny. I mean that other… thing." He eyed Kenta to ask him for a better description, but simply earned a shrug in response.  
"It was an Ultimate," CyberDramon growled. "I could feel it."  
Everyone stared at the Android digimon now, puzzled by his unusual 'eloquence'- if you could call it that.  
"He has digivolved since we last saw him, but I remember the speed, the power, the moves…"  
He subconsciously rubbed his back as he continued.  
"And I remember the data pattern. It's SkullSatamon."

to be continued...


	8. Absolution

A/N: -looks at the last update- Ouch. How's that for a writer's block? Anyway, chapter eight is finally there, so I won't lose even more time by babbling endlessly. Just one last thing: Enjoy! And yes, Aziluth is coming closer.

This chapter is dedicated to Franzi-chan, my never-ending spring of inspiration. Furthermore, I want to thank my beta-reader Myo (Milleniumon) for his support.

8.) Absolution

Silence. Not even the bird-digimon were chirping anymore after CyberDramon's astounding revelation, as if it had taken this entire part of the Digital World by surprise. Merely the slight soughing sound of the nightly breeze gently blowing through the leaves of the forest could be heard.

SkullSatamon, formerly known as Musyamon, had saved their lives once again. They did owe him a lot, and they all knew it, yet it took five minutes at the very least until finally Takato, as the first of them, regained his ability to speak.

"Just… wow…"

"Very eloquent, gogglehead," Ruki commented with a smirk that came from Lord-knows-where, but probably simply served to cover her own amazement.

"And you're absolutely sure?" Ryo questioned his partner. It did sound incredible, after all.

CyberDramon didn't even bother answering; instead, he just gave his Tamer a half angry, half offended look. Ryo flashed a lopsided grin and bowed in apology.

"Alright, I guess you are sure." He paused. "I suppose this is the weirdest coincidence in history- that, or SkullSatamon has been following as around since we parted from him."

"I would have sensed him a long time ago already if that were the case," CyberDramon growled. His tone and the look in his eyes both had now changed from half offended to clearly pissed, and Ryo figured it was better to shut up for the time being.

"I'll go and look for him," Guilmon shouted, and suddenly disappeared into the thicket of the forest with surprising speed. Renamon shook her head in annoyance, but still followed her viral friend to try to keep him safe in case he did not find what he was looking for.

'Or possibly,' the yellow _kitsune_ added mentally, 'if he _does_ find it.'

* * *

Takato had absolutely no chance to react in any way other than looking after the red blur Guilmon had turned into as he vanished into the wood. His first impulse was to run after him, but a firm grasp at his right wrist prevented him from doing so. 

"You're too sanguineous, gogglehead. Renamon will take care of him." Ruki smirked slightly as she finally let go of Takato.

"But he is…" Takato started, but never finished the sentence as Ruki interrupted him.

"…your friend, I know. But so are they." She made a quick head movement towards the still unconscious Jenrya and Terriermon. "And I have a hunch they'll really need us as soon as they wake up."

She smiled, and that did it. Guilmon was in good hands- or paws, to be precise-, and Ruki had caught him anyway. And she didn't even have to use her hands for that (which, of course, probably was a good thing).

"You're right, I guess," Takato replied, his gaze focussed on Ruki's still smiling face. Upon realizing that he was staring at her, though, he quickly averted his eyes towards Jenrya and Terriermon. Ruki- and the others- followed his look, and they all formed a slightly misshapen circle around their two friends.

"I wonder when they'll wake up again," Hirokazu commented, poking Jenrya's left cheek.

"Do that again and I'll poke your eyeballs out," Juri whispered in a low voice. Hirokazu immediately drew his hand back and gave her a dumbfounded look.

"Uh, I mean…" Juri began, "just… you know, leave him alone, alright?" She tried to smile, but failed miserably. Nevertheless, Hirokazu obeyed her request, even though Juri's unnatural outburst surprised him immensely- him and all the others, for that matter.

"I was just about to say the same," a voice piped up, obviously referring to Juri's statement before. Half a second later, Terriermon lazily opened his eyes, showing his omnipresent grin to the odd human/digital circle surrounding him. Absolutely everyone was staring at him.

"What? Do I have peanut butter on my nose?"

* * *

Even Renamon, whose speed was second only to a handful of other beings in both the Humans' Realm and the Digital World, had trouble catching up with the strangely hyperactive Guilmon. Finally, she got a hold of him and roughly tackled him down. 

"Where do you think you're going?" Renamon hissed, effectively fixating the dino digimon to the ground. "Do you think SkullSatamon will greet you with a bouquet of flowers?"

Guilmon gave her a puzzled look, but at least he didn't try to struggle against her grip.

"You still don't understand, do you?" Renamon inquired as she ultimately let go of her temporary captive. "SkullSatamon saved us with the last traces of friendship and care still left within him. But now, he had to go in order not to do something regrettable. He doesn't want us to find him, and we shouldn't try to do so."

Guilmon gave Renamon a long, understanding look.

"Self-sacrifice," he muttered.

Renamon was seriously surprised that Guilmon even knew that word- the semantics, at least. However, it pretty much hit the nail on the head. Now that she was thinking of it, it wasn't all that astonishing that Guilmon, of all, had come up with it. He was, after all, the essence of self-sacrifice made flesh.

So, instead of snarling at him, Renamon merely nodded her head.

"Now get up," she commented as she elegantly hopped to a stand, pulling Guilmon up along with herself. "We have to-"

A loud ripping sound interrupted her speech, as something big literally crashed through the thicket behind the two of them. Renamon whirled around in a split second's time, and narrowly dodged Kuwagamon's Scissor Arms attack. Immediately, the kitsune digimon assumed a fighting stance, and Guilmon was right next to her, bracing himself for the follow-up.

"I am the Demon of the Forests," the gigantic beetle digimon growled. "For desecrating my shrine, I shall slay you at once. Guillotine!"

However, the murderous assault clearly missed Renamon and Guilmon, who took cover just in time for the Guillotine attack to effortlessly chop down a nearby pine tree.

Using the tiny break in Kuwagamon's concentration, Guilmon threw himself at his enemy and tackled him to the ground, just like Renamon had done it with himself only a moment before.

As for said Renamon, she jumped up high like a yellow lighting bolt, turning in mid-air so she was facing Kuwagamon's back.

"Diamond Storm!" she announced, as the razor-sharp crystal projectiles started to shower the ground beneath her. Luckily, Guilmon immediately rolled to the right and thus out of her attacking range. Unfortunately, Kuwagamon did just the same, only to the left side, so that the two combatants were now separated by the unsuccessful Diamond Storm attack.

"Why you little…" Kuwagamon lost his speech for the moment, and could do nothing but stare at Renamon with blatant hatred. Obviously, he hadn't expected resistance of any kind.

Guilmon, meanwhile, shivered with fury. His sincere and innocent soul hated ambush attacks for all he was worth, and the disrespect Kuwagamon showed towards Renamon did, for some obscure reason, only fuel Guilmon's rage even more. For a second or two, his eyes turned to that unnatural, viral red colour once more, and with a piercing outcry, he dove towards Kuwagamon and right into the diamond shards separating him from his foe.

Renamon was a fighter, and as a fighter, she saw such crucial moments in slow-motion more than anyone else. But even her fast-as-lightning reflexes couldn't prevent what was happening below her feet this very second. She cursed her own attack, her helpless situation and herself as a whole for not being able to do anything against it; since, as she suddenly realized, she would rather give her life than put Guilmon's health at stake.

Whether the following was the force of her will or just a plain, conventional miracle is still to be found out. Either way, Guilmon didn't even receive a scratch from the deadly diamond projectiles he was jumping through. Kuwagamon, totally perplex and unprepared for such a kind of attack, didn't even have time to flinch before Guilmon's powerful Rock Breaker attack sliced him in half. A split second later, his data dissipated, and the self-proclaimed Demon of the Forests was no more.

Renamon landed on the ground again. Her face, usually bereft of any kind of emotion, now showed an expression of pure and utter astonishment. Guilmon gazed at her; his eyes had regained their normal colour, but still his look was unusually serious.

"Why… did you do this?" Renamon tried to suppress the amazement in her voice, but didn't entirely manage to do it.

"I don't know," Guilmon replied in a rather low voice. "I just couldn't let you get hurt."

Renamon smiled warmly at him in response and indicated a bow, thanking him without words.

"Now," Guilmon piped up in his usual happy voice again, "let's go back to the others, okay?"

"Of course," Renamon answered, but then, a sudden thought crossed her mind.

"In a minute we can go. But first, I'd like to talk to you about something. Let's call it… a pact."

Guilmon blinked in sheer confusion.

"A pact? What do you mean?"

Renamon smiled.

* * *

"And you really can't remember anything?" Kenta asked Terriermon for the 47th time during the last few minutes, when they all had recapitulated the events which the small bunny digimon obviously had no memories of. 

"Nope. Not one bit. Jen wanted to matrix evolve, and the next thing I know is me waking up amidst the strangest druid circle I've ever seen," Terriermon joked. It wasn't all that funny, but what he had apparently done as BlackSaintGalgomon surely was gnawing upon his conscience, and this was just his way of dealing with it.

In that moment, Renamon and Guilmon returned to the clearance, and the latter happily greeted Terriermon, which worked wonders to take his mind off the terrible incident earlier this day.

"What took you so long?" Ruki whispered to her digital partner.

"Squashing bugs," came Renamon's laconic answer. Then, to change the topic, she pointed her right paw at Jenrya's silhouette in middle of the 'circle' they were still forming. "He's coming to his senses."

Really did the blue-haired Tamer move and stir in his sleep, and just a second later he finally opened his eyes, only to discover that he was being looked over by thirteen pairs of eyes.

"What?" he asked. "Do I have peanut bu-"

"Oh please," Ruki moaned in annoyance, while Hirokazu and Kenta simply gave a slight chuckle.

"You know, they do say if a dog and his owner stick together for some time, they become very similar to each other," Impmon commented with wry amusement in his voice.

Jenrya just gave him a quizzical look. "What the he-"

He paused, and half a second later, his face assumed a very disturbing ashen colouring while his eyes widened in horror until they seemed to consist merely of pupil anymore.

"Uh, Jen? Buddy?" Terriermon expressed his worries about this strange transformation his Tamer was apparently undergoing. "What's up?"

Surprisingly it was CyberDramon who answered instead of the blue-haired Tamer, "Realization."

"Huh? You mean only now does he remember what he did before?"

Ryo's question was left unanswered, as his digital partner merely continued to stare at Jenrya Lee, who by now obviously was overwhelmed by a wave of guilt and remorse, even though his body- apart from a slight trembling and the still murderously widened eyes- showed none of it.

"What…" he whispered in a throaty, barely audible voice. "What have I done?" His right hand subconsciously clasped his D-Power, and his unnaturally blank eyes looked at it as if it were a poisonous viper.

None of the others dared to move or say a word. They simply didn't know what they could do to ease the pressure currently pressing down on their fellow Tamer. None… except one.

Juri walked up to Jenrya, repeatedly muttering something incomprehensible under her breath which could mean something like 'Lionheart'.

Upon reaching him, she hesitantly placed her right hand on his left shoulder and showed a gentle, benign smile.

"It's not your fault," she whispered, inaudible for anyone except the two of them. "It was Parasimon's manipulation, and Parasimon is gone. Don't curse yourself for what it has done to you."

"And to you," Jen replied. "You don't understand it. It was actually my fault… my… desire…" He couldn't carry on, as he desperately tried to fight back the tears of fury and guilt welling up in his eyes.

"No," Juri demanded, this time in a considerably firmer voice. "It's you who doesn't understand. You are way too friendly and caring to do what you just did out of your own intention."

Her hand grabbed his shoulder even tighter, almost hurting him in the process, as she repeated her statement from before in an unusually demanding voice, "Read my lips: It's not your fault!"

"She's right," Terriermon finally barged in the conversation. The other Tamers and their digital partners simply nodded in agreement.

Jenrya looked at Juri with blatant admiration. It was not the first, but surely the most obvious situation in which the shy, innocent girl showed the true strength within her. Probably one of the reasons why he liked her, and surely also one of the reasons- if not the only reason- why Parasimon…

'No!' he reprehended himself mentally. 'Enough of this.'

What he said out loud, though, was a plain, simple "Thank you." And the fact notwithstanding that the circular motion of his head which he made indicated that it was directed to all the others, it was especially dedicated to one extraordinary girl by the name of Juri Katou.

An awkward silence was following, which was eventually broken by Renamon, "We should rest now. We don't yet know what awaits us on the way to Aziluth the Aureate."

"That," Hirokazu commented, "is the first good idea I heard to-"

The 'day' went down in a monstrous yawn, which reminded the others of their own tiredness. One after the other, they gathered around the campfire, which radiated both lulling warmth and calmative crackling. Hirokazu and Kenta, along with their partners, were asleep in no time; and the same applied for Impmon. All the others were still in miscellaneous states of being awake, and as for CyberDramon and Renamon: whether they were asleep or not was impossible to say.

"How is your leg?" Jenrya whispered to Juri, who was lying on the right-hand side of him.

The girl didn't even know what he was talking about at first, until finally, realization struck her.

"Oh… the muscle, you mean? Definitely better. I totally forgot about it already."

"I can see that," Jenrya commented with a sneer. "I hope you sleep well, then."

"Same to you. And dream a little dream of me, alright?" Juri responded tauntingly, oblivious to the blush on both her own and her conversation partner's cheeks.

"Will do," Jenrya muttered in embarrassment. "Good night."

From the opposite side of the campfire, Takato Matsuki was watching them with interest.

'They act very weird towards each other lately,' he thought. 'As if they were in love or something. Thinking of that, they would make a rather cute couple.' He chuckled inwardly.

'But of course, that's never going to ha-'

At this point, his glance suddenly wandered to Ruki Makino's dozing form just a few meters away from him, and for some obscure reason, he couldn't finish his current thought anymore.

'Then again… never say never, right?'

Somewhere high above him, a nightingale-like digimon seemed to chirp a melodious affirmation.

* * *

to be continued… 


	9. Ankunft

To BloodyKitsune: Oh yeah, that will help to make me write faster. However, I'm glad you still bear with my humble little fic. Take this relatively fast update now as some sort of compensation for the murderous waiting for chap eight.

A/N: Here it is, chapter nine, which at the same time marks the end of the first of the three story arcs I plan to introduce in this fic. Don't worry, I won't chop it into sequels or something like that, it's just a personal organizational thingy for myself. As always, enjoy!

Dedicated, once more, to the light of my life. Special thanks to Tirithon and Milleniumon99 for beta-reading.

9.) Ankunft

_"It's not every day you get to meet your _dream girl_… Sorry, just couldn't resist."_

"Huh!" Makino Ruki awoke with a suppressed shriek of surprise.

'Just great,' she thought. 'Now I'm hearing things- in my sleep, to make matters worse. Jesus, I guess I'm too old for such adventure trips already.' She flashed a lopsided grin at the unusual easiness with which she accepted the strange incident, just to ease the tension. Besides, given that the campfire had long died down and she could just barely make out her digital partner sleeping right next to her, chances were low anyone could see her smile.

As it often is with such random memories (if you could call it a memory, that is), it caused her to dwell in nostalgia- not necessarily in the strict sense of the term, though. It was rather a sudden rush of images floating through her head, which she couldn't really control.

She saw Guilmon and Takato, as Renamon and Ruki herself challenged them for the first time. She saw Guilmon's debut digivolution to Growlmon during his fight against Devidramon. She saw that silly (and yet, ever-amazingly brave) gogglehead take out the Parasimon that had held her captive atop of the possessed Locomon.

"Why on Earth am I seeing all this? Very strange," Ruki muttered under her breath. She exhaled audibly, her gaze wandering towards the sleeping form of Renamon again, since she believed to have seen some sort of movement from the corner of her eyes.

"Renamon?" she asked mutedly, but no response came from the yellow _kitsune_.

"Weird," the orange-haired girl mumbled. "I could have sworn she had her eyes open for a split second. Well, I suppose I should try to catch some more sleep. I guess sun won't rise for another couple of…"

A sudden flash interrupted her, momentarily blinding her. An instant later, the sun was shining warmly at the Tamers and digimon and a new day was born, skipping dawn as usually.

"…nanoseconds," Ruki nonchalantly finished her sentence.

"Good morning, Digital World!" Terriermon bellowed, wide awake and as hyperactive as ever. Jenrya Lee, despite not quite as enthusiastic, smiled warmly at his partner. Quite obviously, Terriermon had found a well proven way to deal with the traumatic experiences from the previous night, which undoubtedly was a good thing. Plus, it did help Jen himself to overcome what he had gone through once and for all.

"What's so good about it?" Kenta sleepily asked, referring to Terriermon's outcry. His buddy Hirokazu simply threw a small fir cone at the bunny/dog digimon to show him what he thought of his wake-up call, but missed him by miles.

"I do not enjoy those instant daybreaks either," Guardromon commented to enforce his Tamer's displeasure, even though it was at least debatable whether a machine digimon really cared about immediate sunrises that much. MarineAngemon, which was floating right next to him, simply gave a drowsy squeal in response.

"Alright then, is everybody awake now?" Ryo asked, his voice giving away his own, still present tiredness.

"No," Takato mumbled half-asleep, twisting and turning on the ground in a vain attempt to find a position where the sunlight wouldn't pierce through his closed eyelids.

"Amazing," Hirokazu commented with a probably rather mistimed hint of blatant admiration in his voice. "Terriermon imitates the trumpets of Jericho, and Chumly still manages not to get his butt off the ground."

However, Takato finally _did_ manage to get his butt off the ground, and after he had pulled his equally drowsy digital partner to his feet, they all continued their journey to the North, and towards whatever mysterious and phantasmagoric things might be still awaiting them.

* * *

They walked casually for about an hour or so until they reached something resembling a naturally grown hedge, i.e. a linear part of apparently considerably thicker shrubbery stretching almost from one side of their peripheral visual field to the other. Since quite obviously there was no way to bypass the ominous hedge, CyberDramon hacked and slashed at it until he had created a small passage just about wide enough to let all Tamers and digimon through. 

And behind the hedge, the forest was gone.

It seemed as if the weird thicket belt was a natural border surrounding the northernmost part of the wood for a couple of kilometres in each direction. Then followed another ten metres or so of bright green grass sods, and after that, they beheld what they had been looking for all along. The wasteland.

Of course they did not know it was the wasteland- highways sign saying "Welcome to Wasteland. Aziluth: ten miles ahead" were not to be expected in the Digital World. But each and every one of Tamers and digimon alike instinctively felt this had to be the penultimate hop of their journey.

The wasteland did undoubtedly deserve that name. Barren, arid soil was stretching towards the North as far as the eye could see, with not even some measly lichens or thornbushes growing anywhere. Directly above the wasteland, up to the imaginary horizon line, the sky had acquired the colour of molten plumb, and multiply reticulating, dark violet lightning bolts stroke into the ground every two seconds, approximately. It was, basically, hell on Earth.

"Alright, I guess we've found it," Kenta stated the obvious. "And now?"

"We'll walk across it, of course," Terriermon replied. "It's probably not as bad as it looks- at least if there are no landmines or something." With that, he playfully threw a fir cone some meters into the wasteland, as if checking for mines. It was impossible to say if there actually were mines hidden somewhere, though, since the cone never reached the ground.

Another violet lightning bolt flashed down and literally vaporized the fir cone in mid-air. The Tamers and their digimon were taken aback by surprise and shock, wincing under the painful touch of the lightning's heat wave and momentarily blinded. It took them at least two minutes until they had regained their complete eyesight again.

"Alright," Terriermon admitted, "maybe it is as bad as it looks. Any suggestions?"

Renamon didn't answer, but carefully inched closer towards the invisible border separating the wasteland from the northernmost part of the Southern Quadrant. For a nanosecond, she held her right paw inside the pandemonium just a few inches ahead, and pulled it back at an insane speed- and just in time to evade another lightning bolt which, even though smaller than the others, would surely have blasted her paw away.

"The power is amazing," she mused contemplatively. "Digivolution won't help either."

None of the others knew what to do anymore. They could simply stare alternately at the wasteland and each other, wavering, doubting, thinking.

"Do you reckon we have any cards that might be useful now?" Hirokazu asked nobody in particular.

"Not to my knowledge," Ryo replied, furrowing his brow. "WarGreymon's Brave Shield will not suffice, nor will-"

"That's it!" Takato suddenly exclaimed, interrupting Ryo's pondering. "Not to your knowledge, you say. But there are cards you don't know yet. None of us does, for that matter." Hope was shimmering in his eyes as he reached into his pocket and produced the inconspicuous brown packet Yamaki had given to them just before their departure from the Humans' Realm.

"We might as well give it a try," Ruki admitted, digging into her pockets for her own pack of cards. The others followed suit promptly, and in no time at all they were already forming a circle, shuffling through the new modify cards.

The space on what they assumed was the front side was in most cases filled with DigiCode, whilst the backside simply showed a ton of zeros and ones, arranged around what looked like a small chip which strongly resembled its ordinary counterparts which were to be found in credit cards or the likes. The information on the front was rather cryptic in many cases, but some could clearly be identified to serve a specific purpose.

"Neat," Kenta commented as he studied one of the cards.

**CardAnalyzer**

Name: Amaterasu's Blessing

Tamer: Kitagawa Kenta

Digimon: MarineAngemon

Duration: N/A

Recharge Time: 250 Netbeats

Range: N/A

Comments: Illumination. Disintegrates data patterns of Numemon, Sukamon and Vilemon.

"You can admire them later, when we've reached our target," Jenrya snapped at the bespectacled boy with unusual annoyance. His determination to make Juri happy again had not diminished one bit. But of course, as he suddenly realized, that was no reason to fall out with his friends, especially if he considered the events from the previous night.

"I think I've found something that might prove useful," he continued in a more placatory tone as he showed the card he was talking about to the others.

**CardAnalyzer**

Name: Sanctuary

Tamer: Lee Jenrya

Digimon: Terriermon

Duration: N/A

Recharge Time: 2000 Netbeats

Range: 10m

Comments: Protects against most forms of data-disintegration.

"Sounds good," Takato commented. "But you do remember Yamaki saying that those cards haven't been tested yet, right?"

"What better way to test them than to use them, eh?" Jenrya sneered as he slashed the card. A bright white light suddenly engulfed his partner, radiating from him like a strange orb of pure sacredness.

"Well, it seems to work," Juri mumbled faint-heartedly. "But will it work inside the wasteland, too?"

"There's only one way to find out for sure," Terriermon spoke up, confident with his new (and, in his opinion, absolutely funky) aura of light. Without hesitation, he stepped onto the barren ground of the wasteland. As if on cue, another lightning bolt came down on him- only to vanish into thin air approximately ten meters above his head.

"Very neat," Terriermon joked, "a portable arrester. Hey, you guys better catch up if you want to stay within the radius!" With that, he lead the way, skipping away childishly, so that the others really had hurry after him in order to stay within the protecting belt of the Sanctuary card.

"It does worry me a bit that the duration of the card effect isn't specified," Ryo spoke as the fellowship continued their journey to the North. He had to speak somewhat louder than usually, since the violet lightning bolts were still mercilessly zapping down on their temporary shelter.

"Well, we'll surely notice when the effect wears off," Hirokazu responded with a trace of gallows humor.

"Very funny, visor-face," Ruki growled. "Personally, I'd prefer to be inside of Aziluth when that happens."

"If we can even get in there," Takato muttered, but too quietly for anyone to hear.

* * *

They kept walking in silence for another ten minutes, but to each of them, it seemed more like ten hours; not surprising since the painfully monotonous landscape didn't exactly foam over with variety. Still, they were in a rather optimistic mood, since they all knew- and felt, for that matter- that Aziluth was near, so that they soon discarded their worries about the Sanctuary card's effect wearing off. 

"Would you stop that already?" Ruki snarled at Kenta, who was cleaning his glasses for the eleventh time by now. "It's making me nervous."

"I can see that," the boy retorted. "But I can't help it. They keep getting steamed up all the time."

"Naturally," Renamon commented somewhat lackadaisically. "A mist is forming."

She was right, of course. In less than a minute, Tamers and digimon alike were stuck in the densest fog they had ever seen, reducing their range of sight to approximately 47 micrometers or so.

"We'll have to form a chain," Jenrya commanded, "or we'll get lost. Everybody grab their neighbours hand, or claw, or whatever!"

They obeyed, some immediately- like Juri, who was next to Jen, some quite reluctantly- like Ruki, who was walking between Renamon and Takato. Still, after a few seconds they had managed to build something which at least remotely resembled a chain, and adjusted their respective paces to each other as well as they could.

Impmon and MarineAngemon saved the trouble of keeping up with the others entirely by riding atop of Guardromon and Kenta, respectively. Jenrya was pretty much begging for a herniated disk as he had to walk strangely inclined since he was holding Terriermon's paw in his left and Juri's palm in his right hand. However, the latter circumstance made his unhealthy position a lot easier to bear.

Takato, on the opposite end of the chain, had problems of an entirely different kind. He was sincerely grateful for the mist, as it prevented the others from noticing the fierce blush on his cheeks just because of himself holding Ruki's hand. He mentally cursed himself for showing such a reaction towards something that, normally, wouldn't have struck him as an awkward situation at all. However, for whatever reason, basically everything was somehow different for him when Ruki was near him. He didn't have time to (possibly fruitlessly) continue his introspections, though, because suddenly, and literally out of the blue, the fog was gone.

And what they beheld now left them absolutely awestruck.

For another two hundred meters or so, the familiar barren soil of the wasteland uncoiled in front of them. But, without any recognizable street or path leading towards it, there ran an enormous city wall from East to West, which was so ridiculously high that guessing what could be behind it was simply a thing of impossibility. It was built from some strange sort of black rock, perhaps obsidian, with even stranger icons and pictograms carved into it. Directly in front of the Tamers/digimon group, there was a gigantic and very solid-looking gate built into the wall, probably made of Chrome DigiZoid. The gate bore a symbol as well: a very detailed etching of the Southern Quadrant's sovereign, Zhuqiaomon, and beneath it a few lines of DigiCode.

The only edifice within the city that was visible from outside the walls was a very high citadel which, towards the top of the building, formed into a spherical shape which had a huge circular window pointing directly to where the gate was- in other words, to the South. The whole citadel was shimmering in a matt tone of white, so that it pretty much looked like it was made of mother-of-pearl entirely.

Tamers and digimon alike were so absorbed in the view that they didn't even notice the Sanctuary card Jen had slashed on Terriermon losing its effect. Luckily, that didn't really matter anymore, for no more lightning bolts came down on them to seek their annihilation. Quite obviously they had, by stepping out of the mist, set foot in some sort of no man's land between the wasteland and their ultimate target.

None of the Tamers or digimon could say a word, apart from Kenta, who couldn't suppress a whistle of surprise and bewilderment, and Hirokazu who, as usual, felt the urge to state the obvious.

"Guys… I think we've found Aziluth."

* * *

to be continued… 


	10. Empfang

A/N: There it is, chapter ten- thanks to a sudden inspiration surge which enabled me to write it in one evening, thus eliminating the time problem University is confronting me with this semester. Immense thanks to Milleniumon for beta-reading. Enjoy! 

10.) Empfang

"Gogglehead?" Takato kept staring at the walls of Aziluth.  
"Gogglehead!"  
Takato kept staring at the walls of Aziluth.  
** "Gogglehead!"**  
"Huh?" Takato made as he finally snapped back to reality.  
"Would you mind letting go of my hand already?" a visibly annoyed Ruki fumed.  
"Uh-wah! I'm sorry, Ruki," Takato apologized, as he ultimately released Ruki's left hand from his firm grip. He experienced a sudden rush of a strange feeling of sadness- or maybe emptiness was the proper word- as he did so.  
"Jesus," Ruki commented as she carefully un-mingled her fingers. "Since when do you have such a grip? Do you work as a part-time nutcracker lately?"  
Takato showed a lopsided grin, his usual substitute for an apology whenever he was too embarrassed to actually speak.  
"I think Takato subcasually didn't want to let go of Ruki, that's why he held her hand so tight," Guilmon mused, but too low for anyone to notice either his statement nor his vain attempt to try to say 'subconsciously'.  
"Well guys, now what?" Kenta asked.  
"I don't know," Hirokazu replied. "We could just knock."  
Absolutely everyone stared at him in disbelief. Well, almost everyone. Guardromon showed surprising speed as he floated towards the gigantic Chrome DigiZoid gate and, not quite as surprisingly, did exactly what his Tamer had suggested: He rapped at it.  
"You know buddy, actually I was only kidd-"  
He never finished his sentence; since all of a sudden, the two enormous halves of the massive door actually parted and swung open with a disturbingly loud screeching sound. Guardromon, who had returned to the group in order not to stand in the way, showed a triumphant look- or his species' substitute for one- to the others; including his partner. Apparently, the threshold of the door simultaneously marked the border between the No man's land and Aziluth the Aureate, as directly behind it, the ground stretching into the city was made of pure gold. The Tamers and digmon didn't see too much of Aziluth, though, since their visual field was blocked by a considerably tall digimon. It was wearing simple body armour which seemed to be made of studded leather, gemmed over and over with aquamarines, rubies and amethysts. Its physical appearance was pretty much that of a rather well-built human, just its skin was paler and its greenish eyes were over-proportionately big. Its long black hair vanished behind its back, where it had obviously been tied into a ponytail, and in its right hand, it held a spear entirely made of Chrome DigiZoid which looked like it would weigh several tons.  
"Greetings, highly venerated newcomers," the digimon spoke up in a very melodious, but still rather strict voice. "My name is Lynceumon, and I am the guardian of the Southern gate of Aziluth, the Aureate. Please do not be offended by my amazement."  
If it really was surprised, surely neither of the Tamers nor the digimon had noticed. Its facial features looked like solid rock, and it was hard to imagine any kind of emotion being reflected by them.  
"But I have never seen a human before. And I certainly haven't seen a digimon knocking at this gate before. No digital being has ever entered Aziluth the Aureate, except those who get here by transcendence."  
Lynceumon didn't bother to explain what it meant by 'transcendence', but the Tamers simply assumed he was talking about the dead digimon who certainly had to come to Aziluth in one way or another.  
"But where are my manners. Please do come in. Unfortunately, I cannot allow you to move freely within the city before the Lord has spoken to you. There are no instructions on how to proceed with visitors coming through the Southern gate for the guards, so I'm afraid I have to ask for your cooperation. Please, come with me."  
With that, Lynceumon turned around and- almost goose-stepping- vanished within the city. Tamers and digimon quickly caught up, since the gate was already closing again, moved by some invisible and unknown force.  
The ominous force turned out to be two small, grey, muscular digimon, one on either side of the gate's halves, who eyed the newcomers curiously as they followed Lynceumon past them. The beauty of Aziluth the Aureate was overwhelming. The streets were arranged in a checkerboard pattern, and on either side of each of them there were various buildings of diverse height and architecture- and all of them were, of course, purely made of gold. Most of them were literally plastered with jewels as adornment, and the rays of light emitted by the sun high up in the sky (which now had acquired its usual azure colour again) were thousandfold reflected and refracted, thus creating a mind-dazzling kaleidoscope of colours. It was difficult not to just stand still and watch the amazing beauty of this spectacle, but Lynceumon never even slowed down as he lead them towards the gigantic citadel they had already noticed from outside. It appeared to be quite some distance away, approximately in the centre of Aziluth, when they had first beheld it from out there, but strangely, they didn't have to walk longer than two minutes or so until they finally stood in front of the enormous building.  
Tamers and digimon alike looked at the towering edifice with bafflement. Compared to the 'regular' houses of the city, it looked surprisingly unembellished, but its sheer size more than made up for it.  
"How high is this thing?" Jenrya asked, realising that this was the first thing any of them had said to Lynceumon.  
"I do not know your human measures, so I fear I cannot answer your question. But I would estimate approximately two hundred times CyberDramon's size." Lynceumon pointed at CyberDramon as he said that, which immediately caught Ryo's attention.  
"So you know CyberDramon?" he questioned.  
Lynceumon's right corner of the moth rose about half a micrometer as he responded, "Certainly I do. We all know you, Legendary Tamer, and we all know your digimon partner. In fact, personally I know all of you here, even though I naturally haven't ever seen you before. But the deeds of the Digimon Tamers and their courageous partners are well-known here in the City of Gold; and if we never wanted to meet you, it was only for the fact that our wish for your well-being surpassed our veneration."  
Jenrya knew what he meant immediately. Of course, the only way Lynceumon would have expected to ever meet them was- if at all- through their death in the Digital World. So, a wish to meet them would have been rather morbid, actually.  
"Please come on in. The Lord will await you in his residence, the Sphere of Time."  
With that, Lynceumon opened the door (which was so perfectly hidden within the concrete of the tower not even Renamon had spotted it yet) and entered 'the Lord's' domicile.  
"Who is this Lord he keeps talking about?" Takato asked noone in particular.  
"How would I know?" Ruki retorted somewhat irritated. "Just wait and see."  
The rather roomy entrance hall of the citadel was brightly illuminated, although the source of the light was nowhere to be seen. Like the exterior of the tower, the inside was apparently made entirely of mother-of-pearl, which shimmered in a silk-matt tone due to the light flooding the building.  
"Please, follow me," Lynceumon requested and lead the way towards a spiral staircase uncoiling high into the upper part of the citadel.  
"Geez, we're not gonna climb up all the stairs to that sphere thingy we saw before, right? I mean that'll have to be a trillion steps or so," Hirokazu complained. But as soon as they had passed the first helix of the flight of stairs, so that they couldn't see the lobby anymore, they were already standing right in front of a door. The change of architecture in this part made it obvious that the sphere was right behind it.  
"What… how…?" Juri uttered, being unable to speak a proper sentence.  
"It is not of crucial importance that you understand this," Lynceumon commented rather lackadaisically. "The stairs are short for those who are welcome to the Lord, and endless for those who aren't. Please do come in."  
With that, it opened this door as well, and made Tamers and digimon enter what it had just before called the Sphere of Time- the residence of the Lord of Aziluth.

If Aziluth was beautiful already, this throne room was the manifested definition of beauty. The sphere-shaped walls were so closely jewelled with all kinds of gem stones you could possibly think of that it was almost impossible to make out the wall between two adjacent diamonds, topazes or agates. The sunlight flooding into the hall through the gigantic circular window in the backside wall was refracted by the stones, turning the entire room in an almost painful spectacle of glittering, shimmering colourfulness. Right in front of the window, sitting on a large golden throne, there was a majestic digimon- apparently the Lord. On either side of him, there was a digimon sitting on the five steps leading up to the throne.  
Lynceumon made a couple of quick steps towards it, and ultimately kneeled down before his master, his head touching the silvery floor for the blink of an eye.  
"Almighty Lord Tothmon, those are the wayfarers that took up a surely long and perilous journey to visit Aziluth the Aureate. Takato Matsuda, bearer of courage and kindness, with his loyal partner Guilmon. Ruki Makino, bearer of strength and determination, with her powerful partner Renamon. Jenrya Lee, bearer of wisdom and intelligence, with his-"  
"Thank you, Lynceumon," Tothmon gently interrupted his servant's speech. "I know them all, and I am glad to see them. You may retreat now." Lynceumon immediately got up, bowed once more and rushed outside, leaving the Tamers and digimon alone with the three strange residents of the Sphere of Time.  
Tothmon was a large digimon clad in a simple white robe who seemed mainly humanoid, but had blue-ish skin and two pairs of menacing looking claws. His face was almost human as well, only that it was covered with short, dark blue fur. His nose was rather bulged, which would have made it look somewhat like a snout, if it hadn't had mostly normal human nostrils. His eyes were unusually pointed and a bit odd-shaped for regular human ears, and his relatively small eyes shone with cerulean brightness.  
"Welcome, Takato, Ruki, Jenrya, Hirokazu, Kenta, Juri and Ryo. Welcome also Guilmon, Renamon, Terriermon, Guardromon, MarineAngemon, CyberDramon and Impmon. I am Tothmon, the Lord of Aziluth, and I take great delight in your presence." He paused, gesturing to his left, where a skinny- and apparently female- digimon wearing the same white robe as Tothmon was sitting. Her features were almost human, but she didn't seem to have eyes, and her hands were tightly clutching a wooden staff which had strange pictograms carved into it.  
"This is Kassandramon, my advisor. She sees many things, some that have been, some that are and some that might still be."  
Now, he gestured to his right. The digimon sitting there looked more like a male, and was- surprise, surprise- wearing a white robe. He looked perfectly human, and rather old due to the many crinkles corrugating his facial features and the long white hair flowing over his shoulders. He too was holding a wooden staff, but the symbols on it were entirely different from Kassandramon's.  
"This is Asklepiomon. There is almost no injury, no disease, no matter how lethal, that he cannot cure."  
"I shall thank you for your kind words, my Lord, but my abilities are as limited as anyone else's. But please allow me to express my gratitude to those who have saved the Southern Quadrant of the world we all live in from annihilation." Asklepiomon lowered his glance and sat still in silent veneration.  
"Please," Takato spoke up, "don't. We thank you, really, but this isn't necessary." "Your modesty only adds to your glory, my young friends," Asklepiomon replied, before Tothmon rose to speak again.  
"Please be my guests for as long as you wish. I have never seen anyone entering my dominion in any way other than the one of transcendence, so you surely are special visitors. May I ask you, though, what the objective of your journey is?"  
The Tamers looked at each other with uneasiness. Tothmon's impressive phenotype seemed to make it difficult to find the right words.  
"They are searching for someone," Kassandramon suddenly chimed in. "The Lionheart is looking for her counterpart, who shed his blood and pawned his life for the one he wanted to protect from harm."  
With trembling hands, she pointed her staff at Juri- as if she could see her (and perhaps, on another plain of cognition, she actually could.)  
"You, Juri Katou. You're on a quest to find your partner, whom you lost to the darkness. The darkness which is within this room."  
She turned towards Impmon, and if she had had eyes, her glance would surely have pierced right through him- or at least that's the impression they all got.  
Impmon hung his head in shame, and audibly choked back some tears. Juri, in consequence, gently placed her left hand on the small goblin's head and lightly patted it.  
"Don't be sorry," she whispered almost too quietly to hear. "It's alright."  
Impmon knew that, of course. He knew that Juri had forgiven him long ago already. The problem was that he hadn't forgiven himself yet. So, remembering the promise he had made, he quickly wiped his eyes with his gloved paw and provocatively stared at Tothmon.  
"Well," he bellowed, "if you already know why we're here, how about giving us what we want?"  
He was immediately hushed by the others, but Tothmon merely gave a benignant smile in response.  
"You are very straightforward, Impmon. You are the one who took Leomon's life, are you not?"  
Even though it was supposed to be a question, it sounded much more like a declarative statement. Impmon didn't answer; he just lowered his gaze and tightened his lips, which now resembled an extraordinarily thin, exsanguinous line.  
Tothmon gave him a long, thoughtful look before he continued to speak, "Do not dwell in self-reproaches, young Rookie. I sense that you have left this phase of your life far behind you, and your determination to help your friends dignifies you. You are as welcome within these city walls just as much as the others that travel with you. But before we can discuss your wish, I would very much like to show you the principle of transcendence. I know humans are said to be incredulously curios."  
"We would like that a lot, Mr. Tothmon Sir," Juri responded. Naturally, her most burning desire was to see Leomon again- but this really wasn't the right time to be impolite. And surely Tothmon had his reasons; beyond the rather juvenile appearance, he seemed to be quite old, and unimaginably wise.  
As for Terriermon, well, he wasn't as easy-going. He definitely wanted to play the advocatus diabolii and give Tothmon a piece of his mind, so he opened his mouth and-  
-Clonk!-  
-shut it again. Jenrya had some very 'punchy' arguments at times.  
Tothmon rose to his feet. He was about the size of a relatively tall human, but something about him made him look like a giant to the Tamers and digimon.  
He lifted his hands (or paws, or whatever you want to call it) high into the air, and as if on cue, a clicking sound could be heard from somewhere high above.  
Fourteen glances were simultaneously cast towards the ceiling, where there was a hole in its geometrical centre. The quite large gap's outlines were decorated with amazingly shiny carbuncle stones, as if to counterbalance the lack of gems in the area where the hole was. Slowly, and without a sound, a massive orthorhombic crystal was lowered through the hole and came to a halt approximately ten centimetres above the floor. There were no visible wires, cables or other holders attached- apparently, it was floating.  
"This is Epiphaneia," Tothmon commented. "It collects the essence of the fallen Digimon. I am unsure how you would call it- the soul, maybe?"  
Takato gulped. "I guess that's pretty much it, yes," he stammered.  
"The essence," Tothmon continued, "is then sent to one of two places. One is Aziluth, the Aureate, the residence of the virtuous, the brave, the self-sacrificing ones. The other does not and must not bear a name. It is the vast darkness of infinity, where all those who have been sadistic or unmerciful, impenitent or cruel, physically or psychically abusive are bound to go." He paused for a second and closed his eyes before he continued.  
"If a digimon succumbs, its essence is transferred into Epiphaneia, and then it is my duty to judge. The upright digimon are accepted in the glorious City of Gold, and their essence rematerializes within the city walls. They will eventually be reborn, and if that happens, I serve as a channel to replenish their physical existence. The traitorous digimon, on the other hand, are rejected, and Epiphaneia banishes them into its core, which is the gate to the endless, nameless obscurity. Those will not be reborn, not until time ends or the world _moves on._"  
None of the Tamers had a clue what he meant by the latter, but they didn't really notice it anyway. The flood of new information was just too overwhelming. Jenrya was the first to ultimately regain his composure as he finally asked the question of questions.  
"So… where is Leomon now?"  
To some extent, the question was justified. While none of them had any doubts that Leomon was pretty much the most virtuous digimon around, it was still to be seen if Tothmon's perception of righteousness was congruent with their own. And of course, even if Leomon was inside of Aziluth, his exact whereabouts were still a mystery to them.  
Tothmon just gave a benevolent smile instead of an answer, as suddenly, a very familiar voice sounded up from the direction of the door.  
"Greetings, my friends. And greetings to you too, Juri… Tamer."

to be continued…


	11. Ungewissheit

A/N: Yes, I'm **still** alive. Man, it did take me quite some time to get around to write chap eleven, didn't it? As you can probably tell, I've been a bit busy lately, partially because my beta-reader and fellow author introduced me to his newest passion called SonAmy- of which, I must admit, I have by now developed a certain fondness myself. Anyway, let's move on with the fic, shall we? Once again, thanks to Milleniumon for beta-reading.

Enjoy!

11.) Ungewissheit

It was an almost excruciatingly touching scene.

Juri Katou turned into a green and flesh-coloured blur as she dashed towards her digimon partner and literally flung herself at him, holding him tight as if she never wanted to let go of him again- which was exactly what a part of her wanted, actually.

"Leomon..." she mumbled softly, her voice muffled by the tears she cried at the Champion digimon's muscular chest.

"Juri..." Leomon softly patted his human partner, hugging her gently as the girl shook violently, overcome with emotion.

Hirokazu and Kenta looked at each other and high-fived. Absolutely everyone was smiling by now, and even Ruki mutely commented the scenario with a tiny smirk. On the other hand of the scale was a certain brainiac named Jenrya Lee, who showed the widest grin of his life.

'Well,' he thought, 'if that isn't a sight to be seen. It's wonderful to see her happy again...'

As for the strange sensation in his stomach- well, he decided to push this matter aside for the now, for the diffuse pang of fear that came with it definitely wasn't appropriate at the moment.

As if following a simultaneous march order inside their heads, they all approached Leomon and gathered around him in a- somewhat sloppy- circular pattern. Juri, who by now was standing on Leomon's left side (but still tightly clinging to his arm) looked at them with dreamy eyes.

However, not everyone had tagged along.

Leomon sternly averted his gaze to look at the unhappy picture of misery that was Impmon, who was standing in some distance of the rest of the group with his head hanging in shame.

As if he could feel Leomon's piercing look, he raised his head and, surprising everyone including himself, managed to withstand Leomon's gaze. Even more so, he suddenly started walking towards the Beast Man digimon, causing the Tamers and their digimon to step aside to the right or left, thus forming some sort of honour guard, allowing Impmon to pass them by. As he arrived right in front of Leomon, he unceremoniously dropped to his knees and looked up, his eyes shimmering with humidity. Astonishingly, however, his voice was absolutely clear as he spoke up.

"I don't ask you to spare my life. Even if I had the right to do so, I wouldn't. But, noble as you are, please promise to look after my Tamers when I'm gone."

He smiled sadly.

"They're still young, and they have nothing to do with this. I'm sure you too will find they deserve to be protected. They're good kids... and even better partners... and I don't want them to be harmed..." He trailed off, waiting for whatever Leomon was about to do to him.

Said Leomon looked at him with an enigmatic expression on his facial features.

"Please, get up."

Impmon obeyed silently- and gladly. A part of him had been struggling against the idea of dying on his knees, and he honestly appreciated that Leomon allowed him to save what little dignity was still left in him.

"I thought it was clear that I hold no hatred or thoughts of revenge against you. We shall fight together, bleed together, and rejoice together." He offered his hand to the small purple Rookie. Impmon gazed at the impressive Champion in awe, and, after a moment of pure amazement, took his hand.

"Thank you," he whispered, while a few tears of joy and sincere gratitude trickled down his face.

And, eventually breaking the odd honour guard, Hirokazu and Kenta high-fived again.

* * *

"It fills my heart with great joy to see those whom the Digital World owes so much so happy," Asklepiomon finally interrupted the Tamers' miniature reunion. A benevolent smile was spreading across his facial features, and he suddenly looked no more like the wise, respectable digimon from before, yet more like an adolescent just about to hit puberty. 

"We thank you for your kind words," Jenrya replied. "You know the reason for our journey, I wager?"

Asklepiomon's only answer was a nonverbal one, as his smile vanished immediately, substituted by an expression consisting to equal amounts of sorrow and helplessness. Fortunately for him, though, Tothmon took his burden of explaining the status quo.

"You have faced great perils, and proven an incredible amount of courage most native inhabitants of this world, despite their familiarity with the environment, would have never been able to muster. So, it aggrieves me endlessly to tell you that I have not the power to replenish Leomon's life on my own."

Tamers and digimon alike were taken aback by this statement. Naturally, they had all thought that it would be a walk in the park for the emperor of Aziluth to bring Leomon back to life. However, the only one to actually articulate this was a certain sanguineous red-head.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Ruki snapped exasperatedly. "I thought you're in charge of this place?"

"You already answered your own question," Tothmon responded gently. "I am in charge of this place, as you quite aptly put it. Yet I am merely a channel, as I stated before, I'm not the force of regeneration itself. When a digimon is to be reborn is not for me to decide. The Digital World decides that for itself. From my experience, there is no cognizable pattern behind its decision, though. In other words, Leomon might be reborn anyway in a minute- or it could take…" he paused, "somewhat longer."

It was apparent that he had not said what he originally had been intending- but that wasn't necessary anyway. The nonverbal connotation of his statement was clear-cut enough: It could very well be that even the Tamers' grand-children wouldn't live to bear witness of Leomon's rebirth anymore.

Juri, now dangerously close to crying again, asked Tothmon about this obvious situation nonetheless, and despite her determination not to cry in front of Leomon anymore, she couldn't suppress the few tears that trickled down her face as the Emperor of Aziluth silently nodded in response.

"I am thoroughly sorry, Tamers. The original concept of the Digital World did not take into account that humans and digimon would ever be so closely connected. Digimon basically live forever, as long as they are not permanently deleted. A human's life, however, is but a fleeting spark in comparison."

"What was the shortest time span ever between a righteous digimon's death and its resurrection?" Ryo asked, already dreading the next question he would have to ask as a logical consequence.

"I will need to consult the chronicles to give you an exact answer to that question, Legendary Tamer. Yet if my brain does not betray me, I think it was a Sukamon from the Eastern Quadrant, who came back to life approximately two months after its transcendence," Tothmon replied. "Naturally, time has a vastly different meaning within these walls, varying from any other time flow in either one of the four Quadrants, but I daresay that this is a relatively decent estimation- if we exclude some certain Chosen Digimon from these statistics, at least."

"And…" Ryo hesitated, taking a deep breath before he continued, "what was… the longest?"

Tothmon did not answer, but simply lowered his gaze in silence. At first, Ryo thought that he didn't want to respond in order to save them even more pain, but that wasn't quite true.

"You might be thinking that Lord Tothmon wishes to leave this question unanswered," Kassandramon suddenly chimed in, as if she had read the Legendary Tamer's thoughts (and Ryo himself wasn't too sure that she hadn't done just that), "yet the truth is that he cannot answer you- or, at least, not without consulting the Chronicles of Aziluth. As a matter of fact, if I had to take a wild guess…"

Hearing those words from her seemed like a paradox in itself, the Tamers simultaneously thought. Kassandramon hat an aura to her that made it almost impossible to believe that she could take 'just a wild guess', no matter what the context was. If she said something, she always seemed to KNOW, and never just to guess.

"…I'd say the longest period of time between a digimon's death and its resurrection cannot be pinpointed, as it has not ended yet. I experienced the ritual of transcendence a long time ago- before Lord Tothmon became the Emperor of Aziluth, actually- and my life still has not been replenished."

"I have not studied the Chronicles in a while." Asklepiomon now joined the conversation, "but I think it's been before any of you was born that Kassandramon came to the City of Gold."

He eyed the group of children and digimon uneasily as he noticed the mostly disappointed looks on their faces. Juri was, of course, no exception- yet she also felt a pang of guiltiness. She knew that it wasn't her fault that Kassandramon had been basically imprisoned in, literally, a golden cage, for such a long time. Yet this context suddenly made her own longing for Leomon's return seem so insignificant and selfish.

Kassandramon seemed to empathically notice her feelings, and, despite the fact that her rather stern facial outlines diminished the effect a bit, gave her a reassuring smile.

"Fear not, my friends. I relish my dwelling within these golden walls, and I have accepted my fate ever since. Despite the risk of sounding egocentric, I daresay that I have been a valuable advisor to Lord Tothmon up to now, and this might be connected to the extensive length of my inhabitation of Aziluth the Aureate. Perhaps the Digital World has a plan for me that even I am incapable of understanding properly."

Again, her sheer presence made it hard to believe that there was anything she couldn't 'be capable of understanding properly', and the word 'perhaps' coming from her sounded almost ridiculously out of place. However, Tamers and digimon alike decided not to take much heed of it.

"This does not necessarily mean that Leomon is bound to stay here for the time being, though," Asklepiomon took up the topic again. "If you give me some time to engage into some research via the Chronicles and the Ancient Scriptures, I might be able to find a solution for your problem."

"What do you mean by that? Don't you dare playing with Ju… with our emotions, or else-"

Jenrya did not finish the sentence, but he pretty much brought his point across. Takato, again, noticed the remarkable degree of determination and concern in his best friend's voice, and was just about to draw some conclusions from it when Asklepiomon's response interrupted his train of thoughts.

"I don't play with your emotions, young Tamers. I hereby pledge myself to assist you in any possible way for you to reach your goal of Leomon's resurrection. I don't hope to find a precedence in the scriptures- as we already noted, no living being has ever entered Aziluth through any other way than the one of transcendence, much less did one ever do so and expressed their wish to take someone with them. However, I might be able to find a passage from the days of yore, prior to Lord Tothmon's reign, where much of the old wisdom could still be enclosed. Apparently, since it has never been necessary to prematurely induce a resurrection, the wisdom of this being possible or not has long since faded away- yet that does not mean that it isn't still recorded somewhere. We merely do not have it readily at hand, as it was never needed."

"Up to now," Tothmon added, and thusly ended the conversation.

* * *

The Tamers and their digital partners silently filed out of Tothmon's chamber, with Juri and Leomon in the lead. No words were spoken until they had walked down the stairs again (which seemed to be even shorter now than it was during their ascendancy) and left the citadel through the main entrance. 

"Well, I suppose that means we'll just have to wait, right?" Kenta asked noone in particular.

"Looks like it," Hirokazu replied. "Man, I hate waiting!"

"Geez, get a grip, will you?" Ruki snarled. "God, the things I have to bear with…"

That last part of her statement was barely more than a muttering, but Takato overheard it nonetheless and couldn't suppress a slight chuckle in response- a chuckle which ended abruptly as Ruki literally pierced the gogglehead with an icy glare. However, Takato thought he had seen a tiny smirk playing around the girl's lips in the process.

_(Around her most certainly incredibly soft and tender lips) – Takato thought that more subconsciously than anything else, yet the impression was already dangerously close to the surface of his mind._

"She's right, of course," Jenrya ultimately commented on Ruki's remark. "It's no use wailing over something we can't possibly change anyway."

"In that case," Leomon suddenly chimed in, "I suppose I could just show you around. Aziluth is a most magnificent city, even in comparison to Tokyo."

He smiled.

"Just don't expect too many malls or amusement arcades around here."

Juri gave a whole-hearted giggle in response to her partner's attempt at a joke- a giggle which sounded rather silly even in her own ears, but she didn't actually mind that. It was a _happy_ giggle.

The small fellowship had already caught a glimpse at Aziluth's sparkling beauty when they were led to Tothmon's citadel earlier, but they only fully appreciated it now, when their minds were not troubled as much as before anymore. Many of the buildings, in addition to being made of pure gold, were over and over decorated with various patterns- sometimes plain DigiCode, sometimes enigmatic scriptures which neither the Tamers nor their digimon had ever seen before. The architectures of the respective edifices were still underlying sometimes vast differences. In consequence, they saw a building strongly resembling a typical Shinto shrine standing right next to what looked like a miniature version of the St. Peter's Dome, and just a few meters away there was a (naturally golden) circular hut like you'd expect to see it in an average African kraal- only remarkably bigger.

"This is what you could probably call the kindergarten," Leomon stated, using a word he had picked up during the time he had spent with Juri and the others in the Digital World during their search operation for Calumon. "All digimon that enter Aziluth which have not yet reached the Rookie level are sent to this place. If I'm not mistaken, the current 'babysitter' is an Elecmon from the Northern Quadrant."

"Oh, that's nice," Juri commented starry-eyed. "Could we take a look inside?"

Actually, most of her fellow Tamers were not too keen on doing just that, but none of them had the heart to tell that to the girl that had finally been reunited with her partner. So they all simply followed the infamous puppet girl, who was already skipping towards the entrance- with two exceptions.

"I think we'll better wait outside," Ryo said pointing at CyberDramon and himself. "We'd probably just scare the kids out of their minds."

"Can't argue with that," Ruki retorted, "and I'm not sure who of you two would scare them more."

This time, Takato was lucky that the others- with the obvious exception of Hirokazu- sniggered along with him, so that at least he wouldn't be the only one to receive a death glare. However, Ruki made no effort at glaring at anyone, anyway, so Takato hurriedly followed her inside the 'kindergarten' before Ryo could take over that part.

The hut was much more spacious than it seemed to be from outside, and the reason for this became apparent instantly as Tamers and digimon alike scanned the room.

The amazing amount of Baby- and In-Training-level digimon was, however, not the most baffling aspect of this situation. As if following an inaudible command, absolutely everyone in the room fell silent after spotting the Tamers. Each and every single 'child' just stared at the newcomers, most of them with a mixture of fear, curiousness and mainly just blatant admiration in their eyes.

"Do I still have some peanut butter on my nose, or why do they look at us like that?" Guilmon mutedly asked his Tamer, who simply shrugged at his digimon partner's question.

"They're not staring at all of us, they're staring at our Tamers," Renamon patiently explained. "Most probably because they are humans, methinks."

"You speak true, and I say thankee," a voice from the backside of the room suddenly chimed in. Then, in a slightly awkward tone, it continued, "I implore your forgiveness, my most honoured guests. That's an idiom from the part of the Northern Quadrant where I dwelt before I underwent the procedure of transcendence. I shall try to adjust my style of speech to your pleasure."

With that, a small digimon finally made its way through the- still awestruck- crowd of 'children'- sure enough, it was Elecmon. He- since judging from his relatively deep voice, we'll address him as such for the sake of simplicity- was balancing a pile of clean diapers atop his head, and had his right paw clutched around a semi-full feeding bottle.

"Excuse me if I do not fully share my fosterlings' amazement, but I have been warned in advance, so to speak, of your presence within the walls of Aziluth." He cracked a wide grin, which was as much a counterpoint to his otherwise rather aristocratic appearance as were the diapers on his head- which now, as he indicated a bow towards his guests, actually toppled down and scattered across the floor, inducing a collective sweatdrop from the Tamers.

Elecmon decided to simply act as if nothing had happened as he continued, "News, especially news which are so extraordinary, spread like a wildfire anywhere in the universe, and Aziluth the Aureate is no exception. Please be my guests for as long as it pleases you. Word is that you have achieved much in the eternal fight against chaos and destruction within your Quadrant, and I shall be honoured that you decided to grace my humble hut with your presence. Unfortunately, there is not much I can offer you…"

"That won't be necessary, thank you," Renamon gently interrupted his speech.

"Yeah, we just wanted to say hello, I think," Juri added, feeling a bit uneasy as she actually didn't really remember why she wanted to drop in for a visit in the first place.

Suddenly, a PetitMeramon shyly inched closer towards the nearest member of the small fellowship- in this case, Jenrya- and looked up at him with intimidation in his eyes.

"Are you…," it started in a rather shrill voice which was literally dripping with unspoken admiration, "…are you those whom they call… Tamers?"

Jenrya gave his fellow Tamers an uneasy and questioning look, then averted his gaze again and knelt down in front of the small Baby digimon while trying his best to smile sympathetically.

"Well, yes, indeed. We are Tamers, and those are our digimon part-"

That's as far as he could get before suddenly, all hell broke loose.

* * *

The last traces of the Baby digimons' previous intimidation were gone in the blink of an eye. Each and every single one of them assailed the Tamers with questions, and for every question answered, three new ones seemed to pop up. Tamers and digimon were literally forced to split up into groups of two to four, each group with a cluster of Baby- and In-Training-level digimon surrounding them. 

Even though he knew that it was a ridiculous thought, Takato almost began to fear for his life as the masses of small digimon seemed like they were about to just suffocate him; yet he was somewhat relieved to see Ruki and Renamon right next to him. The girl was apparently not too comfortable with the current situation, too, and Takato understood her only too well.

"Do humans have names as well?" a Motimon asked him this very moment.

"Well, uh, of course," Takato replied. "My name is Takato, and this-"

_(breathtakingly beautiful and, of course, absolutely cool) – which was Takato's subconscious yet again-_

"-this girl is Ruki."

"If a boy and a girl like each other, they get married," a Tsunomon suddenly chimed in in a rather cute know-it-all tone, as if that had anything to do with the situation at all. "Are you two married to each other, Mr. Takato, Sir?"

The effect of the digimon's innocent question was remarkable. Guilmon simply tilted his head in confusion. Renamon had immense trouble to keep a straight face, and ultimately decided to bite her left glove so she wouldn't chuckle against her will. And while Ruki's cheeks simply acquired a slight pink tinge, Takato blushed a deep crimson.

"Ah, wha… why…" he stammered, "what are you saying there? No, no, of course we're not married. We're too young for that, and… and…"

He had no idea what this 'and' could possibly be, so he was immensely grateful when a Bukamon asked him whether they had a Sovereign in the Humans' Realm, too. While he thusly started to explain the concept of global politics in laymen's terms, he did his best to avoid glancing to his right, where a fuming Ruki tried her best not to kill the aforementioned Tsunomon with her bare hands.

However, in that precise moment, the door of the hut suddenly swung wide open, and Lynceumon stepped inside.

"I am thoroughly sorry to…" he paused, amusedly eyeing the chaos, "…disturb you, but Lord Tothmon wishes a word with you. If you want me to inform the Lord that you're occupied at the moment, I shall-"

"No, no, it's alright. We're on our way," a visibly nervous Kenta responded as he inched away from a group of Tokomon gazing at him in silent admiration.

"We'll be back, I promise!" Juri exclaimed enthusiastically, as the group tiptoed towards the door and headed back to the citadel.

* * *

The stairway leading to Tothmon's throne room was about as short as it had been before, but to Juri, it seemed to drag on endlessly. As they finally entered the spherical room, Asklepiomon greeted them with a delighted smile. 

"I have studied the chronicles and the Ancient Scriptures, and after an astonishingly short time of research, I came across a passage which might be of interest to you."

'Well, at least he's to the point,' Ruki thought with a slight smirk on her facial features.

"Lord Tothmon can serve as a channel to replenish a fallen digimon's life, as was already stated. The processes administrating the Digital World are subtle and mysterious, and even the Scriptures cannot fully explain the underlying principles. It is believed that the Digital World- in most, yet not all cases quite randomly- defines a point in time to recreate a fallen digimon's hull, its body so to speak, which is then transferred to Aziluth. The body henceforth basically exists overlapping with the soul which has dwelt here all along, yet body and soul still need to be unified in order to recreate the digimon as a 'whole' being. This is what Lord Tothmon does. He has the unique ability to merge body and soul together and thusly brings the digimon in question back to its full existence. With that done, the Digital World itself usually transports the digimon back to its Quadrant of origin, and as far as we could tell from previous experiences, normally in the immediate proximity of the digimon's place of death."

He fell silent, and it took a while until Ruki popped the question that actually everyone had on their minds as well.

"In other words, we would have to wait for some obscure… entity to bring Leomon back to life?"

"Usually yes," Asklepiomon replied, and the smile on his face grew even wider. "However, there is one life form in the Digital World- as chance would have it, right in the Southern Quadrant- which might be capable of adopting the Digital World's role in the replenishing process."

He hesitated again, now strongly resembling a rhetorician preparing to state his strongest argument.

"The DigiGnomes!" Takato exclaimed excitedly. "They created Guilmon, after all! And apparently, the Digital World then decided to contribute a 'soul' to the body they had fabricated."

Guilmon merely tilted his head again as his name was mentioned, while Asklepiomon just looked plain disappointed. Apparently, he had intended to break his research findings to the Tamers personally, and probably with much more ado.

"Indeed," he finally said. "However, I must inform you that the DigiGnomes have evolved since your journey through the Southern Quadrant. They do not tend to float around the Digital World anymore, yet it seems like they have decided to live together in collectives inhabiting subterranean catacombs. I guess you might most probably find them somewhere in the mountains in the south-eastern part of the third layer. Don't worry, you'll find yourself in said layer if you leave Aziluth again, if Lord Tothmon wishes it to be so."

Tothmon simply gave a short nod, indicating his affirmation.

"So, in other words, we ought to find a DigiGnome who's willing to help us?" Jenrya dug deeper.

This time it was Kassandramon who answered his question, "True indeed. However-"

She paused, and suddenly, her face turned into a mask of concern and, partially, pure and utter fear.

"Peril!" she hissed. "Great peril! _Mors ante portas!_"

Takato gave her a questioning look. "Excuse me? What did you say?"

However, Kassandramon never answered that question, as at the precise moment, Lynceumon entered the throne room, panting heavily- and thus probably displaying more emotions than in all the many years before.

"Lord Tothmon!" he gasped, "we're under attack! Aziluth is being besieged!"

* * *

to be continued... 


End file.
